NL Wild Card Standings: Cubs can TKO the NY Mets who've been punched by the Phillies

The weekend series against the Philadelphia Phillies kind of played out the way we should have expected. The New York Mets got the best of Aaron Nola on Thursday then fell hard to the Phillies with Cristopher Sanchez on the mound Saturday. The same result against Zack Wheeler on Sunday, taking game one was the only realistic chance the Mets ever had because of their starting pitching woes.

Unable to make up any ground in the NL Wild Card standings, the latest update for where everyone ranks paints a darker picture than in previous weeks.

Only 6 behind despite being 9 games under .500 at 34-43, the next opponent, the Chicago Cubs, are the ones they’re chasing first. They hold the third NL Wild Card spot at 40-37. Not an impossibility, the issue for the Mets is how clustered everyone else continues to be. Six teams remain in front of them and a playoff berth. All clubs are 2.5 back of the Cubs or closer.

The Mets are the only NL Wild Card hopeful fading in the standings

The Cincinnati Reds, who’ve had our number this year, are now only 2.5 games behind the Cubs. They’ve gone an identical 5-5 as the Mets over the last 10 days. This helps put things into perspective. In fact, every NL team has won between 3 and 7 games in their last 10. No one has put together a massive winning or losing streak.

That’s what the Mets are missing. Their 12-game losing streak in April obliterated their spot in the standings. They’ve morphed into the team they were meant to be since which is probably a ball club on-par with the majority of the NL. That one stretch of baseball remains their death diagnosis this season.

The oddity of the NL Wild Card standings is the Mets have lost only a half game from the third spot while going two games under the .500 mark. June began with them trailing by 5.5 games and 7 games below .500.

While they’ve been stuck in the same spot, others have climbed. The Miami Marlins were behind the Mets when the month began and are now a half-game behind the Cubs. The Phillies got red hot and went from behind the first time ahead of the Mets in the NL Wild Card standings to the ones fighting for the first or second spot. They trail the Atlanta Braves by only 6.5 games as well.

The Mets aren’t playing miserably this month which is good to see. Every series has been 2-1 or 1-2. That’s sustainable when you aren’t trying to make up a lot of ground you lost in the first weeks. Falling to 7-16 before snapping that losing streak, they’ve played exactly .500 baseball since and have remained 9 games from even.

There’s no way to spin it any longer. The Mets are closer to the bottom of the NL (both literally and figuratively) than they are to a playoff spot. A series loss to the Cubs might only push them to 7 games out. A win, or even a sweep, might not do them much good. There are way too many others in front. Sustained success is the only way to make it happen.

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