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

The New York Mets and Atlanta Braves are keeping pace with each other. Both winning back-to-back games this weekend kept the rivals two games apart entering the final week of the season. Lucky for us, the schedule makers saw this happening. The two go to battle this week three times in a series that can decide the fate of both.

Realistically, the Mets can still take the second or third Wild Card spot. 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.

Put your left hand in your back pocket. Whatever happens elsewhere doesn’t change the fact that the Mets magic number is down to 5.

The Mets magic number number can be counted on one hand

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 6 games left. We add one. We’re at 7. We subtract the 69 Mets losses from the 71 Braves losses to get 2. 7-2 = 5.

Any combination of 5 Mets wins or 5 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.

A Mets magic number of 5 is attractive before a three-game series. A whole hand of fingers can be dropped because each win against the Braves counts double.

Can the Mets pull this off? Some extra wiggle room because they are tied with the Diamondbacks with a tie-breaker over them, 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 thus clinching a playoff berth altogether. It would be an ironic way to end the season as it's how things concluded back in 2022 when the Mets last made the playoffs. Unfortunately, the Braves had the tie-breaker. This year has a chance to be different.