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Mets must take path of least resistance to postseason

When it comes to playoff scenarios, fans love rooting for chaos. This season has already provided plenty of that, and there’s still time for a lot more over the final week. That’s especially true in the wild card. The AL and NL races could conceivably feature three and even four-way ties, which would be a chaos-loving fans’ dream come true.

Well, unless you’re a fan of a team directly involved in those scenarios. In that instance you’re rooting for the clearest path possible to the wild-card game, because there’s only so much stress the heart can take. Just as there’s only so much energy the players can expend.

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The idea is to get in, so any team with that chance will be going all out. However, there’s one team that clearly needs to avoid the chaos the most. That would be the New York Mets. They need to win every possible game, beginning with Sunday’s MLB Free Game Day matchup against the division rival Philadelphia Phillies, so they can avoid entering the NLDS, presumably against the Chicago Cubs, on fumes.

By the way, you can stream Sunday’s game at Yahoo’s Sports Home, MLB index and video home beginning at 1:10 p.m.

By now, everyone is familiar with the injuries impacting New York’s starting rotation. Once loaded with arms like Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, Steven Matz and Zack Wheeler, New York is currently down to Noah Syndergaard, who’s currently battling strep throat, and Bartolo Colon, who is officially its steadiest and healthiest rotation option.

What a world, right Mets fans?

All illness has thrown a wrench into the Mets plans for Noah Syndergaard Getty Images)
All illness has thrown a wrench into the Mets plans for Noah Syndergaard Getty Images)

Beyond them, it’s mixing and matching a lot of unknowns who have provided some good, bad and ugly outings. We’ll count Sean Gilmartin’s Saturday outing among the ugly, as he allowed five runs over two-thirds of an inning. They never recovered, ultimately losing 10-8 to Philadelphia.

Therein lies the problem for the Mets. A three-way tie with the St. Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants, which is where they stand entering Sunday, would likely see them needing to win an extra game just to make the wild card.

In case of a three-way tie, MLB assigns the teams “A, B, C” designations based on head-to-head records and then intradivision records. The Mets and Cards are 3-3 against each other. Each are 4-3 against the Giants, leaving the Giants as Team C. To break the Mets/Cardinals tie, we go to the intradivision records

At the moment the Cardinals are better against their own division, 37-30, while the Mets are 34-34 against their East rivals. That could still change, and if it does it would probably rule the Cardinals out anyway. As it stands though, it would be Mets/Cardinals in St. Louis to determine the first wild-card team on Oct. 2. The loser would then travel to San Francisco to meet the Giants on Oct. 3. with the winner becoming the second wild-card team.

Oh, and then there’s the wild-card game itself on Oct. 4.

Here’s the reality for the Mets. Depending on Syndergaard’s health and when he can return, his availability for a tiebreaker or the wild card game may be sketchy. Even if he does line up, they might have to burn both Syndergaard and Colon in the tiebreakers, assuming both aren’t overworked just to get there.

So we’ll repeat again: The Mets need to win — a lot — down the stretch and avoid as much chaos as possible. Otherwise, reaching the destination may not be worth the price paid during the journey.

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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!