After heading into the All Star Break losing three straight to the Nationals and falling six games back in the division, many Mets fans were left in despair.  Those feelings were only exacerbated by Matt Harvey‘s season ending surgery, Noah Syndergaard leaving a game with a dead arm, and having Yoenis Cespedes go on the shelf with an injured right quadriceps.  It was a first half in which the Mets under-performed and suffered many injuries.  Still, what is lost in all of that is the fact that the Mets are currently tied with the Miami Marlins for the second Wild Card spot.  Even with everything having gone wrong, this is still a playoff caliber team.

They are a playoff caliber team that is going to have their own fate in their own hands.

Right now, the Mets have 74 games left on the schedule.  The winning percentage of the teams currently remaining on the Mets schedule is a combined .486.  This includes 25 games against the Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds, Arizona Diamondbacks, San Diego Padres, and Minnesota Twins, who are the five worst teams in all of baseball heading into the All Star Break, and that is before these teams start trading off their better players heading towards the trade deadline.  These games make up about one-third of the Mets remaining schedule.  This is a great opportunity to make some headway in both the Wild Card and divisional races by beating up on the weaker teams in baseball.

The Mets will also have an opportunity to make some headway in the Wild Card race as well.  The Mets have 10 games remaining against the Miami Marlins and six games remaining against the St. Louis Cardinals.  If the Mets were to do well against these two opponents, they will be able to not only solidify their position as the Wild Card, but they will also be in a position to knock one of these two teams out of the Wild Card race.  Also, keep in mind the Wild Card leader, the Los Angeles Dodgers have Clayton Kershaw on the disabled list, and the Dodgers are not sure when he will be able to return.  The Dodgers are 37-38 in games not started by Clayton Kershaw.  If Kershaw remains out for an extended period of time, the Dodgers will fall out of the race.

Of the remaining 41 games, the Mets only have 16 additional games against teams that are currently over .500.  This includes tough teams like the Chicago Cubs, who the Mets most recently swept, and the San Francisco Giants, who the Mets have taken two of three games against so far this year.  Overall, the Mets biggest challenge is going to be the six games they have remaining against the Nationals.

The other 25 games not previously discussed is against teams .500 and under.  With so many games against average to bad baseball teams, the Mets second half schedule is very favorable.  With 16 games against Wild Card opponents and six games against the Nationals, the Mets are in a position to beat the teams they are competing against for the Wild Card and National League East.  Overall, the Mets could not ask for a better schedule to both win games and prove they are worthy of making the postseason.  The only thing left for the Mets to do is to win those games and return to the postseason.