I’ve heard a lot of nervous Mets fans need to be talked off the ledge this week. The Mets’ ho-hum finish to the regular season was accented by last’s ineptitude against Max Sherzer. While it may be easy to lose some faith in this team right now, Mets fans should not let the last few weeks destroy their confidence entering the playoffs.
There is no doubt that the Mets have been in cruise mode since the division was clinched. Even before that, the Mets had taken their collective foot off the pedal for some time. In a lot of ways, the Mets haven’t played a truly meaningful game since they completed the sweep of the Nats in early September. In that regard, doesn’t their level of play the last few weeks somewhat make sense?
Sure, it would have been nice to have home-field advantage against the Dodgers in the first round of the playoffs. That nicety was eliminated Saturday, but it isn’t the end all be all that it might be in other sports. In actuality, not having home-field against the Dodgers might play better in the end for the Mets.
The Mets really turned their record around on the road the last month and a half of the season, so playing away from Citi Field is not the gloomy task it once was. Look at it this way; being realistic, the Mets are probably going to split the first two games at best. If that is the case, wouldn’t it be more beneficial to have that split come on the road rather than at home? The way it breaks now, having games 1 and 2 be at Dodger Stadium puts the majority of the pressure squarely on the Dodgers to win both games. This is especially true since Kershaw and Greinke will pitch those games in succession and they will have to face Matt Harvey in Game 3.
And yes, it would have been nice if the Mets were riding a hot streak into the playoffs. Maybe, it’s better that they’re not. Maybe now they are due to get going. The Mets have four full days off before the playoffs start. Even if they were on a hot streak, we’d all be worried that having such a gap between games would throw their rhythm off. So how can we now get worried that they weren’t playing well at season’s end? Maybe having a few days off will allow them to collect themselves, heal whatever’s ailing them, and get them ready to start a run. After all, every hot streak begins after a loss.
