Mets Need Giants or Cardinals to Sweep

The baseball gods must be smiling on the Mets right about now. While they embark on the final 2+ weeks of the season against exactly zero teams with winning records, the Cardinals and Giants are about to square off in a four-game series. The Mets need one of those teams to sweep.

It doesn’t really matter which one. Because if one of those teams wins all four games and the Mets can sweep their three-game set against the last place Twins at Citi Field, that would give the Mets a nice cushion over the losing team. And the playoffs would be all-but assured, barring a Mets collapse. And the Mets don’t do that anymore.

Things don’t get much easier for the Mets rivals. The Cardinals have to play two series against the Cubs, and the Giants have two against the Dodgers. Meantime, after the Twins, the Mets have two series against the Phillies, and one each with the Braves and Marlins. Ten of the 16 remaining games are home.

So yeah, the Mets are sitting pretty right about now. You can argue that they are the favorite for the first Wild Card spot. Who would have said that a few weeks ago?