The temptation will be to view the next seven games, if the Mets fare respectably, as reason to believe manager Carlos Mendoza’s group can contend in the NL East.
All seven games are against the Braves and Phillies, who appear to be waging their own private division competition with star-studded rosters that can carry the clubs deep into October.
It’s still early enough for the Mets to think big, but most of the competition is outside the division, with the wild-card race probably more worthy of the fans’ attention than the likely pipe dream of winning the East.
As of Thursday afternoon, Fangraphs gave the Mets a 33.8 percent chance of reaching the playoffs with those odds weighted heavily (32.2 percent) toward receiving one of the NL’s three wild-card berths.
