Robert Gsellman (4-2) tossed six innings of one-run ball while Jay Bruce hit his third homer in as many games and drove in three runs.
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Syndergaard, who the team desperately wants to start the potential Wild Card game on Wednesday, could be utilized differently if the Mets lose Saturday and the Cardinals win.
ST. LOUIS – Carlos Martinez gave St. Louis the shutdown outing it needed to keep them in the National League’s wild-card hunt.
As of Wednesday morning, the Mets (84-74) continue to lead the race for the National League’s first wild-card spot. And every day, the Giants’ director of team travel has gone home without a clear idea. The NL wild-card teams brought their big-boy bats to the ballpark on Tuesday. Those types of numbers will be hard to replicate but they should still be able to score a whole bunch of runs against a suspect Phillies pitching staff. The entry for barrier to the postseason has been lowered to depths that would have been considered inconceivable in previous eras. “Where that is right now will be determined by who is available and what kind of a deal, if any, they could make”. By record, they are very close. “To come back and do this it feels great”. By Friday morning, all three teams will have played 159 games and will have three left on the schedule. It is the Cardinals who have weathered the storm of DL stints from Matt Carpenter, Michael Wacha, Aledmys Diaz, Matt Holliday, Brandon Moss, Trevor Rosenthal, Tommy Pham. You can bet the Pirates would like nothing better than to knock the Cardinals out of the postseason. But they don’t not deserve to, either. They have lost at least 90 games in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1997 and have lost 89 or more games for the fourth straight season, the longest such streak since they lost 89 or more in 13 straight seasons from 1933 to 1945. The Cardinals walked off with a win Thursday night when umpires ruled that Reds manager Bryan Price was too slow to ask for a review of Yadier Molina’s game-winning double.
Even though all six division champions have already soaked themselves in champagne and dried out, only the Chicago Cubs knew where they would start the postseason – at home against the victor of the National League wild-card game – as of Thursday evening.
The Mets clinched at least a wild-card tiebreaker and know their season can not end Sunday, the league’s final regular season date.
Colon has started on three days’ rest only once this season.
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The best team does not always win the World Series. But now is as good a time to evaluate the state of the Mets as they inch closer and closer to the playoffs. Assuming that the Giants sweep the Dodgers at home, the Phillies also have the opportunity to play spoiler on their home field and shock the Mets out of the playoffs.
