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There are roughly six weeks left in the 2016 MLB regular season, and while the playoff picture is taking shape, there is still a lot to be decided before October.

In the American League, there are 10 legitimate contenders remaining. The Cleveland Indians and Texas Rangers have a strong hold on their respective division leads, but the AL East is a three-team race and the two wild-card spots are wide-open.

The National League picture is not as congested, but there are still eight clubs in position to reach the postseason. The Chicago Cubs and Washington Nationals are essentially locks to fill two of the five spots. The Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants both look like good bets as well, regardless of who wins the NL West. That leaves four teams battling it out for the final wild-card spot.

What follows is a look at each club’s chances of reaching the postseason, with the following factors taken into account:

• Current standings
• Recent performance
• Injury concerns

So with the regular season set to wrap up on Oct. 2, here is a division-by-division look at the playoff chances of all the remaining contenders.

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From World Series MVP Salvador Perez to nasty closer Wade Davis, MLB‘s final 2015 postseason All-Star team is stacked with members of the Kansas City Royals.

It’s easy enough to understand why so many Royals would make the grade. The idea here is to highlight the top individual performers from the postseason—and the newly minted kings of baseball are loaded with players who fit that description.

The selection process was all about digging through the playoff stats to find the best of the best. While all the numbers counted, the heaviest emphasis was placed on stats compiled during the championship series and the World Series. For that reason, more than a couple of New York Mets ended up making the cut.

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FINAL SCORE: Royals win 7-2 over the Mets

The Mets were three outs away from sending the World Series back to Kansas City. Instead, the Royals orchestrated their eighth comeback of the postseason, scoring two runs in the ninth and five in the 12th to claim the club’s first Fall Classic since 1985.

The go-ahead hit came off the bat of Christian Colon who was hitting for the first time in the postseason. Salvador Perez was named the World Series MVP. The backstop led off the five-run 12th with a single before getting pinch run for and hit .364 in the series.

If you want to talk baseball, find me on Twitter @KarlBuscheck.

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From Chris Young to Mike Moustakas, plenty of unsung heroes have pushed the Kansas City Royals to the brink of winning the 2015 World Series.

With the Royals holding a 3-1 advantage over the New York Mets, this list of understated but indispensable contributors is dominated by Kansas City players.

However, there is room for one Mets veteran who made a habit of delivering in big moments during the regular season and who has been doing the exact same thing on baseball’s biggest stage.

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The New York Mets picked up a critical win Friday night in Game 3 of the World Series to avoid the death sentence of falling behind to the Kansas City Royals 3-0 in the series.

Now it all comes down to this final week of baseball, as the Royals will look to get over the hump after coming one win away from hoisting the trophy last year, while the Mets will aim to cap off their impressive push back to contention with a title of their own.

While there are a number of players performing at a high level on both sides right now, there are also some notable guys who need to improve their play before it’s too late.

What follows is a look at three players from each team who need to right the ship quickly in order to give their team its best chance of winning it all.

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Game 3 of the 2015 World Series is upon us, as the Fall Classic shifts to Citi Field with the New York Mets’ hopes resting on the arms of two rookie starters: Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz. Down 0-2 in the series versus a hot-hitting Kansas City Royals lineup, how much will the duo’s youth and inexperience hurt the Mets?

Friday, Syndergaard will go up against Yordano Ventura. The Dominican 6-footer pitched brilliantly on baseball’s biggest stage during last year’s World Series.

As for Matz, he gets to toe the rubber opposite Chris Young, who was composed under pressure, pitching three innings of no-hit ball out of the bullpen to earn the win in Game 1 on Tuesday.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at all the social media murmurings ahead of Games 3 and 4 in order to dig a little deeper as to where the series might be headed.

While Syndergaard has only been pitching in the majors since May 12, he has garnered high marks for his composure and poise on the mound all year long. Combine that with the fact that he has been completely dominant at home this season, and it’s no wonder why the young man is full of self-assurance ahead of the biggest start of his life, per Major League Baseball’s Instagram:

But Ventura has the know-how. 

During the 2014 World Series, he shut down the San Francisco Giants in Game 6 to save his team and force a Game 7. He is 1-0 with a 1.46 ERA in two career World Series starts.

Even though Ventura had a down year in 2015, he is fully capable of rising to the occasion. That is one reason why the Mets may be in serious trouble. 

Oh, and the Kansas City Royals seem to be the hottest sports team in the world right now.

During a four-run fourth inning in Game 2, they seemed to be all over almost every pitch Mets starter Jacob deGrom threw, a point that MLB.com’s Anthony Castrovince was quick to point out on Twitter:

The Royals have only struck out a total of 10 times this series.

If progress is to be made in the strikeouts department, Syndergaard will have to dial it up in terms of velocity.

In the 111 years of World Series history, only 11 teams have done what the Mets are attempting to do, per SB Nation’s MLB Twitter page:

In any case, this should be a fun game to watch if you dig the fastball, per MLB’s Instagram:

As MLB.com correspondent Richard Justice points out, there may be a bit of hope for the Mets yet:

Looking ahead to Game 4 on Saturday, Matz has a tough task in trying to beat Young, who, at age 36, has far more experience than him. Nevertheless, the Mets remain positive, as evident from injured pitcher Jerry Blevins’ Tweet:

New York’s two rookie starting pitchers must do all they can to limit Kansas City’s ability to get hits in bunches, a task that seems very difficult at the moment. Royals manager Ned Yost’s quote on MLB’s Instagram sums it up: 

As Fox lead color commentator Tom Verducci said, these Royals just don’t quit. They are relentless.

They have looked far too comfortable at the plate, seeing the ball so well. The Mets response should be to pitch them inside more and brush the hitters off the plate.

Intimidate them. Get in their heads. That might be their only shot at getting back in this series.

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Mets captain David Wright picked a great time to snap out of his long funk and return to form. Even if it was a brief flash of his former grandeur, Wright’s two-run home run and two-run single helped the Mets creep back into the series with a Game 3 victory and cut the World Series deficit to 2-1.

Though the Mets would eventually win by a 9-3 margin, the final score isn’t indicative of the tense moments in the middle innings and how close the Mets were to letting it all slip away again. Rookie Noah Syndergaard wouldn’t let it happen.

After immediately giving up a run in the top of the first to put the Mets in a hole, David Wright’s two-run homer gave Syndergaard the lead right back. He gave up two runs in a shaky second inning as well, prompting Jon Niese to start warming in the bullpen. From that point on, however, Syndergaard settled in.

With all of the pressure on his broad shoulders, the 23-year-old buckled down and kept the game close enough for the Mets’ bats to erupt. It wasn’t easy, as Syndergaard held on to a 5-3 lead by leaving the bases loaded in the sixth inning—an inning in which the Mets would go on to score four insurance runs.

The Mets will look to keep the good times rolling at Citi Field by sending out rookie stud Steven Matz in Game 4 with the hopes of evening the series. Kansas City will answer with Chris Young, who was terrific in a relief role in the marathon Game 1.

FINAL: Mets 9 – Royals 3

Dan Ferrara is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter (@BigRed_BR) for more analysis.

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The Kansas City Royals have taken a commanding 2-0 lead in the World Series, but the New York Mets will get a chance to turn things around with three games in a row at home.

After sweeping the Chicago Cubs in the National League Championship Series, the Mets have seen their bats go cold and their young pitchers struggle through the first two games. Based on the way the Royals have played so far, this could lead to a sweep if things don’t change in a hurry.

Still, the Mets were 49-32 at Citi Field this season and should get a momentum boost from their return and the home fans. You can be certain that after getting this far they won’t just give up now.

That could lead to an exciting Game 3 of the World Series.

World Series Game 3

When: Friday, Oct. 30

Time: 8:07 p.m. ET

Where: Citi Field, Queens, New York

TV: Fox

Live Stream: Fox Sports Go

Probable Pitchers: Yordano Ventura (Royals) vs. Noah Syndergaard (Mets)

Preview

The Mets’ biggest strength during the season and in the playoffs has been the depth of their rotation. While other teams might have an ace they can count on followed by mediocre starters, this team can send out a top pitcher every night.

Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Chris Archer, who has worked as an analyst during the playoffs, discussed the Mets starters favorably:

After Matt Harvey and Jacob deGrom failed to get the job done, it’s now Noah Syndergaard‘s turn. The rookie has looked good all season with a 3.24 ERA, which has improved to 2.77 in three postseason appearances (two starts). Considering he also has a 7-2 record with a 2.46 ERA at home this season, there is reason for the Mets to be excited about another shutdown performance.

The problem is that Syndergaard‘s strength—a fastball that reaches 100 mph with regularity—doesn’t seem to faze the Royals.

Kansas City has an incredibly deep lineup that features contact hitters at every spot of the batting order. No matter what you throw at them, the Royals find a way to get the bat on the ball and wait for good things to happen.

Alec Dopp of Gammons Daily provided a look at what the Royals have done against the other Mets starters in this series:

Both managers had similar thoughts after Game 2:

It might sound simple, but putting the ball in play is enough to start rallies and win games. With the Mets infielders lacking range defensively, the balls are going to find more holes than usual.

Syndergaard doesn’t have as good of secondary stuff as Harvey and deGrom, which doesn’t bode well for his chances of success in Game 3.

On the other side, Yordano Ventura has pitched just well enough to help his team win in each of his last three starts. He hasn’t completed six innings yet in the postseason, but he also hasn’t given up more than three runs in any appearance. With a well-rested bullpen that can be dominant at times, this should be enough.

The Mets offense hasn’t really shown up as expected after the long layoff from the NLCS. The red-hot Daniel Murphy is just 2-for-9 with no extra-base hits in two games, while the team as a whole is batting just .165, thanks mostly to the great work of Johnny Cueto.

If this lineup can’t get to Ventura early, the trio of Kelvin Herrera, Ryan Madson and Wade Davis will do the rest and prevent any chance of comeback.

The New York fans will be excited for their first World Series home game since 2000, but the excitement will wear off quickly as the Royals take Game 3.

Prediction: Royals 4, Mets 2

Follow Rob Goldberg on Twitter for more year-round sports analysis. 

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This thing isn’t over yet.

That’s what uneasy Mets fans are telling themselves as the World Series shifts to Queens for Game 3 on Friday (8:07 p.m. ET on Fox), with the Kansas City Royals holding a commanding 2-0 lead.

But it also has the benefit of being true. Yes, the odds are stacked against the Mets. Of the 50 teams that have fallen behind 2-0 in Fall Classic history, only 10 have come back to hoist the trophy.

One of those teams, however, was the 1986 Mets, who dropped a pair at home to the Boston Red Sox before storming back to win in seven games, with an assist from Bill Buckner and an errant infield bounce.

Can this year’s Amazins follow suit? Or will the Royals—who stumbled at the finish line last year—wear the crown?

We’ll know soon enough. In the meantime, let’s examine six other pressing questions whose answers could well decide the outcome—and anoint MLB‘s newest champion.

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Noah Syndergaard wasn’t even alive the last time that the New York Mets climbed out of a 2-0 hole in the World Series way back in 1986.

In Game 3 of the 2015 Fall Classic, the 23-year-old right-hander will be responsible for jump-starting a similar comeback as he takes the mound opposite of Yordano Ventura at Citi Field.

The matchup between Syndergaard and the Kansas City Royals righty promises to be downright electric. During the postseason, Syndergaard’s four-seam fastball has averaged 98.5 mph, which makes it the fastest pitch thrown by any big league starter, per MLB.com’s Statcast. Meanwhile, Ventura’s two-seamer clocks in at second on that list with an average speed of 96.9 mph.

As Syndergaard aims to pitch the Mets back into the series and Ventura attempts to hand the Royals a commanding 3-0 advantage, here are the biggest keys for both sides.

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