NY Mets: 3 September storylines to follow this month

August was a pitiful month for the New York Mets. There aren’t many other ways to put it. We’ve now arrived in September; the penultimate month of the 2021 season. All but three of the regular season games will take place this month which means we could be seeing the end unfold very quickly.

The 2021 Mets were undoubtedly a strange team. It feels like only yesterday Tomas Nido was hitting a game-leading home run in Atlanta. If memory serves me right, which my wife insists it rarely does, this was in late May!

The season has gone by fast with the last month including an epic plunge by this club. Win or lose, there will be stories to follow in the final full month of the regular season including these three I’ll be watching closely.

How far the Mets fall in the standings or manage to climb back

I think a lot of fans have already accepted the Mets aren’t going to make the 2021 postseason. While not out of it yet, numbers can catch up. The team can easily run out of regular season real estate before managing to catch the Atlanta Braves or maybe even secure the second Wild Card spot.

Typically, I don’t look too much into how a team performs when the games matter less. Momentum from one season to another does not matter. There’s too much time in between and roster changes are so immense. In such an individualized sport like baseball, a Dominic Smith walk-off home run in game 162 doesn’t mean a thing other than one last chance to cheer.

Still, it will be interesting to see how much fight this team has. At times, they have looked careless and tired. It’s worth observing. Which guys actually care about performing even when the games have lost their meaning?

A valiant effort down the stretch by the Mets could offer a little bit of false hope for next year’s club. It doesn’t mean much at all other than a few season ticket holders may decide to renew their plans.