Mets' skid hits low point, but they hang on to Wild Card spot

NEW YORK -- For the past several weeks, as they lost and lost and lost, blowing leads and dropping games in inexplicable ways, the Mets could at least take solace in the fact that they still held an advantage in the National League Wild Card race.

The last vestiges of that lead officially vanished at 7:26 p.m. ET on Saturday, when the Mets stranded two runners on base to complete a 3-2 loss to the Rangers -- their eighth in a row. With that, the Mets moved into a temporary tie for the final Wild Card spot with the Giants. It marked the first time all season that the Mets were not in control of their own playoff destiny.

But they received a reprieve of sorts hours later, when the red-hot Giants lost to the Dodgers, restoring the Mets' precarious half-game lead in the Wild Card race.

“We’ve got to get going here -- fast,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “That’s the bottom line. We’ve got to get the job done, period.”

It has been an almost unfathomable freefall for the Mets, who held a five-game advantage just two weeks ago. The Giants -- a club that sold off parts at the Trade Deadline, including reliever Tyler Rogers to the Mets -- have since surged.

With members of the 2007 Mets in attendance at Citi Field, it was Rogers who began the evening’s downward spiral. Although rookie starter Brandon Sproat appeared to be cruising with six scoreless innings and only 70 pitches, manager Carlos Mendoza became concerned about Sproat’s four-seam fastball velocity, which topped out at 98.7 mph earlier in the game but had since fallen into the low 90s.

Rather than push the rookie (who turned out to be physically fine), Mendoza turned to Brooks Raley, then to Rogers, who couldn’t overcome a catcher’s interference error to open the eighth. Two runs wound up scoring to tie the game.

In the ninth, Francisco Lindor failed to glove a leadoff line drive that fell into shallow left field for a hit. Three batters later, Wyatt Langford laced a go-ahead single into center against Edwin Díaz, and that was that. The Mets attempted to mount a rally in the ninth behind Juan Soto, whose 40th homer earlier in the game gave him the 16th 40-30 season in Major League history. But they could not push across a run.

Instead, the Mets fell to 31-49 since June 13, better than only the Twins and Rockies over that stretch.

“I don’t know what else to do right now,” Soto said.

In a quiet postgame clubhouse, players offered many of the same puzzled remarks that they have throughout September. To a man, they spoke about the quality of talent in the room. They said that everyone is working hard, working the right way. They don’t understand why that combination has failed to translate into winning baseball.

Yet for all their talent and all their preparation, the Mets have not played well. Saturday’s loss included Alvarez’s error and Lindor’s misplay, among other issues. In the sixth inning, the Mets put their first two men on base, only for a pickoff of Brett Baty at second to stall the rally. In the eighth, the Mets placed a runner on second with no outs but failed to advance him.

These are fundamental issues at a time when the Mets must play near-flawlessly. Because if they don’t, someone else will. The Giants have won 14 of their past 19 games. The Reds lurk a bit further back, but, unlike San Francisco, hold a crucial tiebreaker over the Mets. If all three teams finish the season tied, the Reds would make the playoffs while the others go home.

That includes the Mets, who boast a payroll larger than the Giants and Reds combined.

“We have the talent,” Soto said. “Just look around. We have great players -- all over, great players, great coaches. And we have a great fanbase. So I think it’s a playoff team.”

For as much as Soto, Lindor and others believe that to be true, the idea of being a playoff team will not be a matter of opinion much longer. Two weeks from now, it will either be a fact or it won’t.

“It comes down to us winning games,” Lindor said, adding that for all the Mets’ issues, he would have signed up for this position back in Spring Training. “Here we are. We have to get it done. I have to get it done. And the good thing here is everyone here is fighting for each other. Everyone feels like we are preparing the right way. Hopefully, baseball turns on our side.”