Innings cap won’t keep starters from playoffs

The Mets want to avoid a Stephen Strasburg fiasco.

So while manager Terry Collins raised the possibility the Mets’ young starting pitchers might need to be shut down through a battery of “ifs” while insisting the team is doing everything to avoid that scenario, general manager Sandy Alderson said they would be available for the postseason.

Alderson, in a text to The Post’s Mike Puma, said playoff innings are “independent” of what happens in the regular season. So the young starters would pitch in the postseason .

Collins suggested revisiting a sixman rotation, using spot starters and pushing pitchers back to prevent Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard from reaching their undisclosed pitching limits.

“With them on this fiveday plan, they’re going to get to those limits and if they’re tired, they’re not going to pitch anymore,” Collins said before the Mets beat the Nationals 52 Sunday night to move into a firstplace tie in the NL East.

But Collins maintained the team is nowhere close to issuing a verdict on the matter. And he gave no definite number for how many innings are enough.

“When that point comes, then we can make decisions,” Collins said. “But I’m not going to sit here and look into a crystal ball and be able to tell you, ‘ This guy is not going to be able to pitch in the playoffs.’

“One of the things I got crucified for was the sixman rotation, which was going to keep these guys rested. … The rest was going to allow them to pitch in the playoffs.”

Collins had only to look at the Nationals, who shut down Strasburg in 2012 and did not let him pitch in the playoffs. Collins said there is an “innings” designation for the Mets starters but declined to say what the number is.

“I don’t think there is any set three numbers you can write down and say, ‘They can’t go past these,’ ” he said.

Harvey, back from Tommy John surgery, has thrown 133 innings; his high is 178 ¹/₃. DeGrom, who threw 140 ¹/₃ last season as a rookie, is at 133 ¹/₃. Syndergaard, who started and won Sunday, has thrown 124 ¹/₃ between TripleA Las Vegas and the majors.

So the Mets will do everything to lessen the load on the young arms. Steven Matz expected back in early September to join the rotation that also has veterans Jonathon Niese and Bartolo Colon, so a sixman setup with Matz making spot starts could work. But Collins admitted the team is “walking that fine line” of an innings limit, due, in part, to the success of the starters.

“Believe me, we have it all mapped out. We have it on paper. It’s in a locked box in my office. I’m the only one that has the code to it so you can’t get to it,” Collins joked.