After having lost nine out of 11 and falling to third place in the National League East after spending months in first, the Mets have rebounded with a three-game winning streak. The two wins on Thursday were highlighted by a Pete Alonso walk-off homer. They are now back to within a half-game of first place.
That's the good news.
In looking at SportsLine projections, the Mets only have a 6.4 percent chance to win the NL East. The Braves, who are behind the Mets right now, are at 52.6 percent with the Phillies at 40.9 percent.
What gives?
Well, I'm guessing part of that is the next two weeks' schedule for the Mets. They host the Dodgers for a three-game series this weekend. After they play their Sunday night game, they'll fly to San Francisco for a three-game series starting Monday. After that, it's a four-game series in L.A. against the Dodgers. Then it's back home for a three-game series against the Giants.
The Giants have the best record in baseball and the Dodgers have a .600 winning percentage (that's a 97-win pace).
The pitchers the Mets are tasked with facing, as things currently stand:
Julio Urías (13-3, 3.41)Walker Buehler, twice (12-2, 2.13)Max Scherzer, twice (9-4, 2.67)Kevin Gausman (11-5, 2.29)Logan Webb, twice (6-3, 2.96)Anthony DeSclafani, twice (10-5, 3.28)David Price (4-1, 3.60)This is just an absolute gauntlet. The Mets can't afford to go something like 3-10 because that would likely bury them pretty deep under the Phillies and/or Braves. If they somehow emerge somewhere like 7-6, they'll remain within striking distance of whichever team is atop the division and, you never know, maybe they'd even be in first. Anything above that would be amazing and they would then likely have a great shot at taking the East.
Whatever happens in the next two weeks, it's likely to determine where the Mets end up this season.
