After getting swept by the Nationals, the Mets feel six games back in the National League East.  The offense has been completely inept averaging 3.2 runs per game.  The Mets went 11-15 over the course of the month despite playing only eight games against teams with a winning record.  Both Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz are dealing with bone spurs in their elbows.  These days you’d be hard pressed to find a Mets fan that has any hope that the Mets could return to the postseason.

Lost in all of this is the fact that the Mets are only a half a game back in the Wild Card Standings.

Even if you assume the National League East is out of reach (it isn’t), the Mets are in the thick of a pennant race.  Better yet, they are going up against the Dodgers, Marlins, and Cardinals.  In order to make the postseason, the Mets need only beat out two of those teams.  Each of the three teams the Mets are competing with are flawed teams with real problems.

St. Louis Cardinals

Outside of Carlos Martinez, the Cardinals rotation is struggling.  Their other four starters have ERAs 4.09 and above, and ERA+s of 1o1 and below.  To be at the point they are, they have had to rely on what has been a pretty good bullpen.  With that said, their closer, Trevor Rosenthal, is having a horrible season with a 5.19 ERA.

Offensively, the team has a black hole in center field.  It has come to the point where they are trying Kolten Wong out there.  This is the same Wong the Cardinals had sent down for his inability to produce at second base.  The Cardinals were able to move Wong to center because Jhonny Peralta finally came off the disabled list.  Peralta is now the third baseman, but he is not hitting after returning from the disabled list.

On top of all of these problems, the Cardinals finish the season with 10 of their final 20 games against the Cubs and the Giants.

Miami Marlins

Barry Bonds has certainly had an impact on this team as seemingly not named Giancarlo Stanton is having a good season offensively.  Stanton’s production is troublesome for the Marlins as he is not the same player for the Marlins a year after wrist surgery.  Fact is, the Marlins need him as their starting pitching hasn’t been very good outside of Jose Fernandez.

The Marlins really don’t have a viable fifth starter.  In reality, they don’t have much of a rotation past Fernandez.  Adam Conley is their second best starter, and he is 4-5 with a 1.357 WHIP.  The other rotation options have ERAs of 4.45 and above.  With a rotation like that, it should come as no surprise that the Marlins are performing above expectations as they have both allowed and scored 326 runs.  If the rotation continues to drag down this offense, we can reasonably expect this Marlins team to trek back towards the .500 mark.

In the event they are able to hang in the race, the Marlins are going to have to earn their way into the postseason with nine of their last 13 games coming against the Mets and the Nationals.

Los Angeles Dodgers

The Dodgers are currently leading the Wild Card race with a 43-37 record.  That record is mostly driven by the greatness of Clayton Kershaw.

This season Kershaw is 11-2 with a 1.79 ERA and a 0.727 WHIP.  Name the pitching catergory, and you can rest assured that Kershaw is probably leading it.  In games that Kershaw pitches, the Dodgers are 14-2 in games that Kershaw starts.  If you removed Kershaw from the Dodgers rotation, the Dodgers would be 29-35 this year.  That is not a team that would be in the thick of the Wild Card race let alone leading it.

Normally, that type of analysis is done to show why a pitcher like Kershaw should win the Cy Young and/or MVP awards.  It is not done as an example to show why his team will not make the postseason.  Yet, that’s the position the Dodgers are facing.  Kershaw has been having back problems recently.  He has received an epidural injection, and he is on the 15 day disabled list.  As Mets fans have seen over the past few seasons, back injuries are funny things.  Once it starts acting up, you do not really know when a player can returns.

With that in mind, we really don’t have an answer to the Cardinals, Marlins, or Dodgers question marks.  As Mets fans, we become myopic in how we assess the Mets chances of making it back to the postseason.  Day in and day out, we see the Mets put out a poor offense and begin to believe the Mets aren’t going anywhere.  However, when you take a step back and look out over the National League landscape, the Mets are competing against other flawed teams for those two Wild Card spots.

Overall, despite the Mets recent struggles, this can still be a postseason team.  As we saw last year, with the Mets pitching, the team just has to get there.  Seeing the competition, they very well can.