The New York Mets reached Citi Field on a better run than their record suggests, carrying a sweep of the Nationals into a three-game series with the San Diego Padres. New York is 56-69, but it has won nine of 12 since the deadline and now gets a quick test against a club that entered at 67-58.
That is why Padres Vs. Mets is drawing attention now: the matchup arrives with both teams playing well, and with recent history between them still fresh. The Mets took two out of three from San Diego at Petco Park earlier this season, then repeated the result at Citi Field in September last year, which gives this set a familiar feel even before the first pitch.
The sweep over the Nationals was not tidy, either. The Mets had to come from behind in all three games, winning 4-1 on Friday after Francisco Lindor tied it with a homer, taking a 5-4 game on Saturday after Francisco Alvarez delivered a game-tying double and Lindor finished it with a walk-off hit, and closing it out 4-3 behind Luis Torrens' fourth home run in seven days. It was New York's second sweep of the month and its first at home since it swept the Marlins at the end of May.
What has pushed the Mets forward most is the bullpen. Since August 3, it has posted a 2.79 ERA, the third-best mark in baseball, and relievers covered 10 scoreless innings against the Nationals while allowing three hits, striking out 12 and issuing one free pass. Jonathan Pintaro and Jefry Yan both picked up their first major league wins in that stretch, while Daniel Duarte had not allowed an earned run in 6 2/3 innings post-deadline and Nate Lavender had not allowed one in 4 2/3. Xzavion Curry and Jefry Yan each allowed one earned run in five innings, and Kodai Senga had not allowed an earned run in five innings of high-leverage work while recording the first three saves of his major league career.
The problem is that the surge has not erased the season that produced it. The Mets are playing their best baseball of the year, but they are still 56-69, which leaves the series with the Padres less as a celebration than a measure of how much of the roster is still fighting for next year. After the deadline moves that stripped away parts of the old bullpen, the group has become almost a new cast of arms, and wins and losses have started to matter less for that reason than for who keeps carrying the load. If New York can carry the same edge into Citi Field, the better question is not whether the Padres are hot, but whether the Mets have finally built something that lasts beyond one strong week.
