NL Wild Card Standings: Mets pass the Braves for the top spot, who's still contending?

Is there a better way to get into the top NL Wild Card spot than to beat the team ahead of you? The New York Mets accomplished this by taking the first two against the Atlanta Braves. A close win on Thursday followed by a larger beating on Friday has given the 55-48 a slight half-game advantage over their biggest rivals. Now atop the NL Wild Card standings, the Mets have done the impossible and positioned themselves well for the final two months.

No lead is safe, though. With Atlanta just a half game behind and San Diego Padres right there, the competition is thinning but also a little too crowded to get comfortable. The Mets should do a victory dance complete with an OMG concert. They also need to wake up on Saturday ready to win again.

Which teams are actually serious NL Wild Card contenders?

The line of demarcation separating the contenders from pretenders is probably at the .500 mark. The 50-53 Cincinnati Reds have played well at times and own a +40 run differential. However, as they sit 4.5 games out of a Wild Card spot, they might not be so eager to overpay at the trade deadline to try pulling off something similar to the Mets.

The Reds, San Francisco Giants, and Chicago Cubs should all be considered out of the NL Wild Card race. Maybe not huge sellers, they could hope to catch a wave of lightning in the final months. Their performance this year doesn’t warrant major roster upgrades. Selling expiring contracts is the most reasonable route.

This leaves us with the Mets, Braves, and Padres in Wild Card spots and the Arizona Diamondbacks, St. Louis Cardinals, and Pittsburgh Pirates eager to take a ship from someone.

As the Braves have now lost 6 in a row, the Diamondbacks have been victorious for 3 straight and appear as dangerous as any club to move up. Their 513 runs scored is second to only the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League. Their 490 runs allowed, unfortunately, is the third-worst. Only the forgotten Colorado Rockies and Miami Marlins have surrendered more.

Reality has set in for the Cardinals whose -38 run differential is the fourth-worst in the National League behind the bottom feeding Rockies and Marlins plus the Washington Nationals at -45. As for the Pirates, at 52-51, it’s hard to fathom how they can end up outperforming the other five clubs they’re battling for three spots against. Unless they have three more Paul Skeneseseses (the plural of Paul Skenes) in the minor leagues, they feel like a .500 team at best and that won’t be good enough.