Despite being swept at home over the weekend by the Pirates, the first-place Mets are still in good shape to make the postseason for the first time since 2006. And with six straight losing seasons under their belts, it’s been a while since the Mets were considered a shoo-in for the postseason this late in the summer—seven years to be exact.
It was the summer of 2008 and New York, with an 82–63 record, had a somewhat comfortable 3.5-game lead over second place Phillies on Sept. 10.
Just six days later the Mets, which had been in first place for all but one day of the previous month, had fallen to second. A mini-three-game winning streak put them back on top for a day—Sept. 19—but then with six losses in their final nine games, the Mets were topped by the hard-charging Phillies that won 13 of their final 16 games.
