Mets Clinch Top Wild Card Spot

By Djack

Somehow, someway, the New York Mets clinched the top wildcard spot in the NL. A season that was plagued by injuries, and when I say injuries, I mean basically every player on their team was hurt at some point this season. Cespedes, deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Walker, Harvey, Duda, d'Arnaud, Lugo, Niese, Matz, Ruggiano, Flores, Wright, Reyes, Cabrera, Lagares, Henderson, and Wheeler have all been on the injury report at some point this season. Mets had World Series aspirations coming into this season, but with all the injuries they had, it would've been hard to imagine they could even make the playoffs this season. Despite all the critics ruling them out when they were two games under .500 on August 19th, the Mets never quit, and they found a rhythm that they're now carrying into the playoffs. Sandy Alderson did a terrific job of piecing together a solid roster while having to deal with so many players going down. Lucas Duda went down and the fans were in a panic because the Mets had nobody to play first base. What does Sandy Alderson do? He gets James Loney who has been a big part of the Mets making the playoffs this year, he actually hit the go ahead home run in the Mets playoff clinching win over the Phillies. Sandy Alderson also signed Jose Reyes when no one else would. Everyone was so concerned about Reyes's off the field problems that they dismissed him, well the Mets picked him up, and he restored energy into a very dead locker room. The Mets don't make the playoffs this year if Reyes doesn't get signed, that's just facts. Alderson also traded for Jay Bruce, he got him for virtually nothing, and although he was off to a rough start, he has really been getting hot down the stretch. If that carries into the playoffs the Mets could make a similar run to last year. At some point this season every Mets fan wanted Terry Collins head on a stake, actually many still do, but I have always loved Terry Collins. Not for his coaching ability, but his press conferences are hilarious , and I feel like he's actually respected by the players even though he does do some really stupid shit sometimes. Robert Gsellman and Seth Lugo have been a huge Band Aid for the Mets pitching rotation, they both have ERA's under 3, and without them the Mets aren't making the playoffs.  Mets are 87-45 they'll probably finish up 88-45, so that's just two less wins from last season, after missing a lot of key players from last years team that's pretty impressive. I'm excited to see if the Mets can have a magical playoff run like they did last season, if they win the wildcard game they get to play the Cubs, we all know that the Mets seem to be the Cubs Achilles heel so it'll make for a real interesting series. LGM