Do the Mets have a shot?
Manager Mickey Callaway makes case to general manager that New York can win now.
NEW YORK – Mickey Callaway doesn’t want a full rebuild. His front office doesn’t seem to be interested in one either.
The second-year manager made a case to keep the Mets together after a three-game sweep last weekend.
And with the team getting Toronto ace Marcus Stroman later that day, it appeared at press time Callaway’s prayers might have been answered.
Four straight wins have turned the Mets (50-55) from hopeless to hopeful and kept them in the postseason hunt.
“Brodie (Van Wagenen) understands that I know we can win now,” Callaway said of the general manager. “He knows we can win now. There’s a reality to every situation. We both feel like we can win and go on a run and get into this thing.”
The odds tell a slightly different story. At the start of the week, Baseball Reference.com considered the Mets to be a long shot with a 3.2% chance of making the postseason and 1.6% to advance past the onegame playoff.
The Mets need to jump over six teams to get a wild-card slot. They need to do more than beat up on the struggling Pirates.
“It’s not something we can control, other than the way we go out every day to put ourselves in a better position to make a push at the end of the year,” outfielder Michael Conforto said.
The Mets have several reasons to stay encouraged. They had a favorable schedule starting this week with three games against the White Sox, then three more against the Pirates and Marlins – all of whom are well out of the playoff push. The rotation whipped into shape with Jacob deGrom, Zack Wheeler, Steven Matz and Jason Vargas all earning wins in their last start (Vargas was traded July 29 to the Phillies).
“Every manager wants to keep their team together,” Callaway said. “We want to win together. I think we’re just trying to play as hard as we can. I think these guys can win. It shows. When our bullpen performs, we win games. I’m just going out there concentrating every day on making guys better. The players are concentrating on making themselves better and to win games.”