5 predictions for the Mets with 100 games left in the 2023 season

5) NY Mets prediction for the final 100 games: Third wild-card spot clinched on September 29

The biggest prediction of all is where the Mets finish in the standings. It won’t be an easy summer. The Mets finally clinch their playoff spot on September 29 with a win against the Philadelphia Phillies to start their final series of the season. The Phillies will have already been eliminated. The Miami Marlins, too.

The September schedule is a fascinating one with the final 13 games of the season against the Marlins, Phillies, Marlins, and Phillies again. The Atlanta Braves will have already put enough distance between the rest of those teams who will spend those final days beating up on each other. The Mets will barely pull away victorious thanks mostly to how their pitching holds up.

In addition to the haul of players they get from possibly the Rockies, we should expect the Mets to completely change how we feel about the players in the bullpen. They’ve spent most of the year with three mop-up men, Tommy Hunter, Stephen Nogosek, and Dominic Leone. Billy Eppler can’t possibly expect to keep his job with all three of them around.

Focus for the Mets will be on making the players they currently have better by putting them in situations to thrive. The general manager has big responsibilities. None compare to what the players must accomplish.

Taking the third wild card spot isn’t the most satisfying of predictions for the final 100 games. As the Phillies proved last year with it, that’s all you need.