The Mets Are Still Alive in the Playoff Hunt Whether You Believe It or Not

By Djack

The Mets are not dead, I don't care how bad things have been, I don't care about the team's history of misfortune, all I care about are the facts, and the facts lead me to believe the Mets are going to turn this around. I know I've been saying it all year long, but this team is built on starting pitching, and that's been maybe the biggest problem they've had so far this season. The concern coming into the season was the lineup producing enough runs to win games, well turns out the lineup is just fine, and it's the pitching that has dug the Mets into this enormous hole that seems impossible to climb out of.

Once again, Mets fans have already begun to quit on there team before July. This has become somewhat on a past time for this organization and the sad sack of people that root for this franchise. Don't worry, I'm here to help sway your opinion of this team back the other way, so when the Mets do turn this season around you don't feel like a complete asshole for already quitting on your team months prior.

The Mets backbone for the past 3 seasons has been the starting pitching. That's what won them the division in 2015, that's what got them back to the postseason last year, and that's what has dug them into this God forsaken hole this year. As the Mets look to turn this season around the way they are going to do it is through pitching. Jacob deGrom has been fantastic in his last few starts. He hasn't been trying to strikeout every batter so he's lasting much deeper into games, which couldn't be more important with how bad the Mets bullpen has been, along with cutting down the hefty workload they had in the beginning of the season. That gives the Mets one pitcher that essentially gives them an almost guaranteed win every 5 days. Unfortunately, one guy isn't enough, so they need help from their other young bucks. The addition of Steven Matz back into the rotation has been huge. The Mets now get a second legit starter back in the rotation, Matz has looked better than ever, and if he can stay healthy the Mets have a nice 1 2 punch at the top of their rotation.

The addition of Seth Lugo back into the rotation is another huge cog in the Mets pitching machine. Lugo has had good stuff in his last few starts, he seems to struggle as he gets deeper into games, but that may just be due to fatigue. If Lugo can keep giving the Mets quality starts while building his arm back up to peak form he'll be another starter that consistently put's the Mets in positions to win. Hopefully, Noah Syndergaard will come back before August giving the Mets their most dominant ace back, reinventing this starting rotation single handily. Who knows when Thor will be back, though. Can't rely on him coming back to save the Mets season. Another unreliable guy is Matt Harvey. He's hurt again and honestly I think we've seen the best of Matt Harvey. He just doesn't have that dark knight chip on his shoulder anymore. The Mets were relying on him to return to peak form this season, so obviously this is a big blow to their original plans, but they'll just have to absorb the blow and move on.

The two x-factors for the Mets will be Robert Gsellman and Zack Wheeler. Both these guys have shown flashes of being very good pitchers. Unfortunately, they've also shown flashes of being pretty poor pitchers that are also injury prone. Tough to say which guys the Mets will get with these two, but if they get the very good pitcher version they'll be in great shape. The Mets with a healthy rotation that is pitching effectively can reel of wins in streaks like no tomorrow. I know we haven't seen much of that, although when have they had a rotation of these 5 guys when they're all healthy and effective. Almost never, so we've never truly seen what they're capable of. All I'm saying is don't sleep on the Mets because they may just surprise you.

It's also been reported the Mets are interested in signing Bartolo Colon since he was DFA'd by the Atlanta Braves. I know Colon has been atrocious this season, but he always seemed sharp with the Mets, and his presence alone in the clubhouse is worth the risk of picking him up. Sandy Alderson better make the right decision and bring back Big sexy. 

In a division with the Braves, Phillies, and Marlins the Mets have a ton of potential easy victories in their path the rest of the way. If the starting rotation can pull this together I believe Terry Collins will once again get credited for saving the Mets season after it seemed so far gone for the third straight year. Just gonna have to wait and see if the miracle Mets can pull off maybe their hardest task yet.

Do you think the Mets are dead? Do you think they have a chance? How should the Mets approach the rest of the season? Let me know in the comment section.