NL Wild Card standings: NY Mets catching the Padres comes with a consequence

The New York Mets went into Saturday in a deadlock with the San Diego Padres. A loss to the Cincinnati Reds for the Mets plus a win for the Padres over the Colorado Rockies split the tie. San Diego rose to where they’ve been for a while now. The Mets fell back to their most comfortable spot in the NL Wild Card standings. They now trail the Padres by one game again.

The NL Wild Card standings are destined to shift a few times before 162 games are played. One of the three teams currently positioned might even do their best impression of the 2024 Arizona Diamondbacks. They were 79-63 heading into September 7 of last season following an 8-0 shutout against the Houston Astros. Their playoff spot was on them to lose.

For a while it felt like the Mets had a destiny of their own. That was to finish with the number 6 seed (again) with a first-round matchup versus the weakest of the division winners. Maybe not. If the Padres really are going to limp into October, it can push the Mets ahead a spot and rewrite the script. They’d play the Chicago Cubs who just don’t seem to have the same pushover aspect as some of the other teams in the NL playoff picture.

Mets vs. Cubs in Chicago feels like the least ideal way to begin the playoffs

By the end of September, the way we feel about the Mets and the other NL playoff teams should change. The Los Angeles Dodgers are a wounded animal at the moment. Although still the NL West leaders by a hair, they aren’t the same force they were last year when they clearly were the team to beat. The Padres could accidentally pass them for a number three seed, setting up for the two NL West foes to face each other to begin their postseason. It’s beginning to seem like the Milwaukee Brewers and Philadelphia Phillies will go into the playoffs with the number one and two spots.

If we had to pick, the Mets feel far more capable of beating the Phillies, Dodgers, or Padres in a short three-game series. On the road in all scenarios, it’s the Cubs who can easily go overlooked because of how impossible the Brewers have made it to catch them.

When the two teams faced each other back in May, the Mets took two of three. The series took place in Flushing with an upcoming weekday rematch occurring later this month in Chicago. Each team added at the trade deadline to give themselves a different look. Their pitching has been superb in the second half. Their offense has been absent a little too often. It’s the opposite of what the Mets have experienced.

Anything can happen in the MLB playoffs so regardless of who the Mets face we should consider them as worthy of being a buzzsaw. While other clubs seem to have familiar weaknesses, the Cubs pitching combined with a sleeping giant offense can become worrisome. If the playoffs began today, the Mets go to Los Angeles to face the Dodgers. That's a matchup against a team the Mets seem very capable of beating. The Cubs are a TBD.

NL Wild Card Standings on the morning of September 7
Cubs 81-61 +5
Padres 77-65 +1
Mets 76-66 --
San Francisco Giants 72-70 4GB