PHILADELPHIA -- For the Mets, two things can be true. Their pursuit of a National League East title can effectively be over, while their hope of a World Series title remains alive. The Mets can be a sub-.500 team for the majority of the season while still being a legitimate threat to anyone they play in October.
In a quiet Mets clubhouse late Monday following a 1-0 loss to the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park, Pete Alonso did not so much grapple with those dynamics as embrace them.
“I feel great,” Alonso said. “If the season were to end today, we’ve got a chance to roll the dice in the playoffs. As years in the past have shown, wherever you start out doesn’t really mean much.
“Have we played our best baseball? No. I know our ceiling is sky-high, but you can look at it two ways. You can look at it as, ‘OK, we haven’t played our best baseball up to this point.’ Or you can look at it as, ‘The talent in this room is undeniable.’”
That collection of talent could not push across a run in Monday’s loss, which increased the Phillies’ NL East lead to eight games with 18 to play. Barring one of the most significant comebacks in Major League Baseball history, the Phillies should wrap up the division later this month.
The Wild Card race is an entirely different story. There, the Mets (76-68) still lead the Giants (73-71) by three games for the final NL berth, with the Reds (72-72), Cardinals (72-73) and D-backs (72-73) not far behind. While greater collapses have occurred over the course of decades, the Mets remain clear and obvious favorites to earn a postseason spot. At the end of the night, FanGraphs estimated their playoff odds at 92.8 percent.
“This is a team that we’ve been through a lot,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “And we’ll find a way. We’ll find a way to get the job done. We’ve got to keep fighting. We’ve got to continue to work. But I trust those guys. There’s a lot of experience there. There’s a lot of talent. And I’m pretty confident that we’ll get to where we want to get.”
Monday, the Mets could not do much to trouble their closest NL East rivals. They mustered just three hits in six innings off Aaron Nola, then nothing more until rallying against closer Jhoan Duran in the ninth. With one out, Jeff McNeil nearly pulled a go-ahead double into right field, but it landed just foul. McNeil subsequently struck out, as did Francisco Alvarez to end the game.
New York’s rookie starter, Nolan McLean, walked three batters and allowed nine hard-hit balls, but for the second straight outing, McLean demonstrated his aptitude for pitching out of trouble. He held the Phillies to one run despite ripping off a fingernail in the middle of the start. That one run proved to be enough.
“We’ve got to play better,” McNeil said. “We’re fighting for a playoff spot, and that’s what we need.”
“We just flat-out have to do a better job,” added Alonso. “But thankfully, we’ve put ourselves in a playoff position. We’ve played some pretty good ball all year. But we’re coming down the stretch, and in order for us to roll the dice in October, we need to play some better baseball. Because it’s an earned privilege.”
The Mets earned their current perch largely by being the best team in baseball from March through late April. Yet since April 21, they’ve been a sub-.500 club over a sample of 121 games -- nearly two-thirds of the season.
Alonso’s optimism stems in large part from what the Mets accomplished last season, looking near-dead at points in May, August and September only to will themselves into the playoffs and cause chaos once they made it there. He’s among many within the Mets’ clubhouse who believe playing an extra postseason series can be an advantage, not a drawback. In Alonso’s eyes, it helps teams stay sharp.
If so, that’s good news for a team quite likely to open the postseason on the road in either Los Angeles, San Diego or Chicago. Because after everything, two things can be true: the Mets can be finished in their pursuit of an NL East title, but not in their chase of greater glory.
“Every year is a new story,” Alonso said. “We’ll see what happens, because I feel like our best days are ahead of us. I really do, because talent-wise, this team is too good. I believe in these guys. We continue to believe in each other. Has it been pretty? No. But we’re going to figure it out, and we’re going to do it.”