How the New York Mets can sneak into the Wild Card

The New York Mets are 3.5 games back of the Brewers for the 2nd wild card with 9 to go, so how can they sneak into the Wild Card game?

For the New York Mets to get into the Wild Card, the hot Milwaukee Brewers would have to not sweep any of their opponents and would probably need to lose two of the series. They have won 12 of their last 15 games, and play games all against teams not in contention the remainder of the season.

Their matchups include the Cincinnati Reds, Pittsburgh Pirates, and the Colorado Rockies to finish out the season.

The Mets also would have to get by the Cubs, which is going to be easier. The Cubs play the Cardinals five more times this season, and the Cubs have already lost the first two games of the series at Wrigley on Thursday and Friday.

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A couple of Cubs losses and a couple of Mets win puts the Mets ahead of the Cubs in the Wild Card race.

On the other hand, the Mets schedule is in their favor, but they have to capitalize to move up in the Wild Card standings. They are in the midst of a three-game series with the Reds in Cincinnati before traveling to Miami to face the Marlins for four.

Finally, they will finish out the regular season against the Braves. You might think that the Braves is a hard matchup, but they clinched the NL East last night and since the Los Angeles Dodgers are going to win home-field advantage through the National League Championship Series, Atlanta manager Brian Snitker will be more inclined to get his players like Freddie Freeman, Ronald Acuna Jr., and Ozzie Albies off their feet.

So, the Mets will need a lot of things to go their way, which include the Brewers losing a series or two, the Cardinals beating the Cubs up, and the Mets will have to sweep probably at least one series and then win the other two to have any chance at making it into the Wild Card game.

Then, all bets are off because Mets fans could be seeing a Max Scherzer vs Jacob deGrom pitching matchup in Washington D.C. on October 1.