New York Mets

New York Mets Are Projected to Host Wild Card Game

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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The New York Mets have been on a roll lately. Will their recent winning be enough to get them into the playoffs?

It wasn’t too long ago that the New York Mets looked like they had their playoff chances on life support. All-Star outfielder Yoenis Cespedes was on the disabled list, and their starting pitching was breaking down.

Cespedes has returned from his quad injury in MVP-form, and the lineup has looked much better. The starting rotation has been hit hard by injuries still, but unexpected players like Seth Lugo, Robert Gsellman, and Rafael Montero have been stepping up.

According to fivethirtyeight.com, their most recent projected forecast has the Mets making the playoffs and hosting the Wild Card game. Due to a very weak schedule remaining on the season, the Mets are looking more and more likely to make the playoffs.

The Pittsburgh Pirates and Miami Marlins have fallen back recently because of injuries, and the Mets have taken advantage. The National Wild Card race has quickly become a three-horse race with the Mets, St. Louis Cardinals, and San Francisco Giants.

Due to having a 4-3 advantage in the head-to-head, the Mets own the tie-breaker over the Giants, who are the other projected Wild Card team. This means that the Cardinals will be the odd man out in the playoff hunt with a projected 85-77 record.

While these projections are encouraging for the Mets, they will still have to win games. This season, the Mets have had some let downs against poor teams like the Atlanta Braves and Arizona Diamondbacks.

Losses against poor teams like these would be unacceptable now for the Mets when every game counts. Finally, the Mets will hope to get Jacob deGrom and Steven Matz back in the rotation for the stretch run. Despite other pitchers stepping up, the Mets will ultimately need both of them to be healthy to achieve success in the playoffs.