The most important part of the Mets’ impossible vault into a playoff spot

The Mets will wake up on Friday morning, and when they open their post and turn to the boxscore and standings (because of course they start their day by opening their post and checking the boxscore and standings) they’ll have one of the most delightful moments right next to them. The item will be visible in their name.

They will see this: “-”

That will be under the “*WGB” column, as in “Wild-Card Games Back.”

And that means they’ll be in playoff position as they prepare to race the final furlong before the All-Star break.

How long has it been since the Mets have been in a playoff position?

This long time: The last time the Mets woke up in playoff position we felt pretty safe planning a Rangers parade to the Canyon of Heroes, and wondering how much the Knicks could possibly push for the Celtics to join them. Are.

“We’re not looking at the standings,” Carlos Mendoza insisted Thursday afternoon. “We’re taking care of business day by day.”

He took over the work on Thursday.

David Peterson started like a spider, dancing through a hail of bullets, and then got blown out by the Mets in the fifth inning, mostly because McKenzie Gore must not have noticed how hot Brandon Nimmo has been the last few days. Are.

Gore decided to work around Francisco Lindor to go after Nimmo, and it proved to be about as bad a move as Rusty Sabich has done so far in “Presumed Innocent.”

Nimmo hit a three-run double, soon making it 5–0, and it ended 7–0, the Mets’ first shutout in their 92nd game.

“I’m swinging a hot bat right now,” Nimmo said, “and when they want to pitch for you in a situation like that and you’re successful, it’s a great feeling.

So the Mets join the inactive Padres in the third wild-card position (and since they’re 3-0 against them so far this season, you can push them up the halfway line) and one game behind the inactive Cardinals for second. Crawled one, and that would be a good thing to think about for the next 24 hours until they have to do it again.

But what’s far more encouraging — and far more important — is the quality of baseball played by the Mets last month, the best stretch since just before things went sideways for them in early September two years ago.

Yes, the bullpen remains a concern and needs to be strengthened.

But David Stearns’ first July deal, acquiring Phil Matton, had immediate benefits as he worked a 1-2-3 seventh on just 10 pitches.

Adam Ottavino tried his best to see if seven runs might not be enough to officially secure Ottavino’s lead in the ninth game, loading the bases, but in reality he was just as quick at getting himself out of a jam. In what seemed like weeks, he gave out the remaining three runs. -Handers.

(And good for Nimmo, he said later: “We want to be the buyer at the end of this month.”)

But the lineup is starting to look awfully strong from 1 to 9, and Pete Alonso doesn’t have the two-week power blitz he’s usually good for at least once a season.

The rotation has been great – and promises to be even better when former stalwart Kodai Senga returns from the break.

“A lot of passion, a lot of caring, a lot to like about this team,” Mendoza said. “How much they care about each other, how much they trust each other. “It says a lot about this group.”

That says a lot about their manager, who has faced growing pains this year as all first-year managers do.

But that was when the Mets were 11-under .500 and six games out of the playoffs because he was two-over and inside the bracket.

It echoes in the clubhouse.

The Mets still have three breaks against the Rockies and four against the Marlins, and those teams were a combined 56 games under .500 entering Thursday.

The schedule gets tighter after that, and it’s true that the Mets have made their resurgence against teams with mostly losing records during the first 28 games of the 35-game patch.

But it’s also worth remembering that when they started that streak – now 19-9 – they were behind all four National League teams they faced, and all three American League teams they played. His record was bad.

All those teams were looking to cut the fat off the Mets.

Instead, the Mets are the people who wake up on Friday morning, open the newspaper and see what seemed the most impossible scene a month ago.

,