NY Mets magic number: Closing in on a NL Wild Card spot

It might not take long to move over to one hand to count the New York Mets magic number. A win for the Mets on Saturday helped them keep the same pace with the Atlanta Braves. Still 2 games ahead of their NL East foe, every team involved in the NL Wild Card picture won on Saturday.

Realistically, the Mets can still take the second or third Wild Card spot. The Arizona Diamondbacks have suddenly heated up with 4 straight wins. The San Diego Padres look poised to take the number one seed if not catching the limping Los Angeles Dodgers altogether for the NL West.

Whatever happens elsewhere doesn’t change the face that the Mets magic number is down to 6.

The Mets magic number could have them is dangerously low for the Braves

The magic number is calculated by taking the number of remaining games, adding one, and subtracting the difference in losses of the two teams. 

In this case, there are 7 games left. We add one. We’re at 8. We subtract the 69 Mets losses from the 71 Braves losses to get 2. 8-2 = 6.

Any combination of 6 Mets wins or 6 Braves losses will reduce this number. Because the two teams play each other 3 times this week, a lot of fingers have a chance to fall.

If the Mets and Braves have the same result on Sunday, the magic number drops to 5. If the Mets win and Braves lose, they go to Atlanta with a magic number of 4. The opposite occurring with a Mets loss and a Braves win will keep it at 6. Magic numbers cannot go up.

A Mets magic number of 6 is attractive before a three-game series. All 6 of those fingers can be dropped because each win against the Braves counts double.

Can the Mets pull this off? Some extra wiggle room because they remain just one game behind the Diamondbacks, there is a secondary route into the playoffs if they can at least pass them. What’s very important is for the Mets to win their series in Atlanta to add in a tie-breaker over the Braves.