3 reasons to believe the Mets make the playoffs after series win over the Blue Jays

Ya gotta believe, but more importantly, you should.

Sean Manaea has been one of the best pitchers in baseball for months, and a huge reason why the Mets are in the thick of the playoff hunt.
Sean Manaea has been one of the best pitchers in baseball for months, and a huge reason why the Mets are in the thick of the playoff hunt. | Mark Blinch/GettyImages
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3. The Mets will make the playoffs because they find ways to score even when the bats aren't locked in

The Mets won the series opener against the Blue Jays by overcoming a 2-1 deficit in the eighth inning. They did it not by slugging home runs or stringing together hits like they have so often this summer. Instead, they took the lead thanks to two walks, an infield hit, and two run-scoring wild pitches.

Do the Mets deserve credit for Toronto reliever Tommy Nance throwing the ball everywhere but over the plate? I'd argue yes, because this kind of thing keeps on happening. Eventually, you just have to admit that there's something special about this team and this season.

We talked already about Lindor's homer to break up the no-hitter and tie the game on Wednesday, but just as important is what came next. Iglesias, who has been a human spark plug all year, legged out an infield single and took second on a throwing error. Mark Vientos and Brandon Nimmo walked to load the bases with no outs, which brought up Pete Alonso.

Mets fans don't want to contemplate it, but the Polar Bear may have less than a month remaining in Queens. Whether that's to blame for his recent struggles or not, the fact is that he's really struggled to drive runners in lately. Francisco Lindor has passed him for the team RBI lead thanks to Alonso only having three runs batted in since September 1st, and after his tying homer, he's now also tied Alonso for the team lead in homers.

Alonso fell behind 0-2 in his critical ninth-inning at-bat, but he fought back by laying off two sliders that were just off the plate, then he shortened up and muscled the next pitch out to right field for a run-scoring sac fly that put the Mets ahead for good.

This fairly standard at-bat might not seem so vital in the grand scheme of things, but it was emblematic of the Mets' ability to plate runs in critical situations by any means necessary. Had Alonso struck out, the Mets may never have scored again that inning, and they'd instead be coming home with a dispiriting loss and no edge on the Braves in the Wild Card race.

Mets fans are going to be white-knuckling these final three weeks of the season. All of our collective past experiences with Mets-related heartbreak has conditioned us to expect the worst, but these Mets are different. Nobody knows how far this team will be able to go, but we all need to loosen our grip just a little bit. This is a special season, and the Mets didn't come this far just to come this far. They're going to make the playoffs.

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