Kuzul

Miami Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez, who died Sunday in a boating accident, will be forever remembered as part of the franchise. 

According to Hal Habib of the Palm Beach Post, the organization announced Monday it will retire his No. 16.

Fernandez will become the first Marlin to have his jersey retired, per Kenny Ducey of Sports Illustrated. The only number Miami has ever retired was Jackie Robinson’s No. 42.  

The 24-year-old Fernandez was one of the brightest stars in the game. Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald noted every player on the Marlins will wear the No. 16 that is set to be retired during Monday’s game against the New York Mets.

Miami canceled its game Sunday against the Atlanta Braves after the news of Fernandez’s death emerged, and Habib said the team will not make it up unless it is necessary in the playoff race.

According to Habib, the Marlins will hold tributes to Fernandez between innings Monday, and they revamped the music as a way of honoring him. Habib shared an image of fans lining up to remember the pitcher:

The Marlins were not the only team to honor Fernandez. As Michael Edison Hayden of ABC News noted, Major League Baseball held a moment of silence before every game Sunday. The NFL’s Miami Dolphins did the same before their matchup with the Cleveland Browns.

Numbers are typically retired in baseball and many sports as a way of remembering some of the all-time greats on the field. While Fernandez was in just his fourth season at the MLB level, he was well on his way to becoming just that for the Marlins.

The two-time All-Star won the 2013 National League Rookie of the Year and never posted an ERA above 2.92 or a WHIP above 1.16. He also had 589 strikeouts in 471.1 career innings, emerging as one of the league’s most electrifying pitchers.

Fernandez was known for more than just his on-field prowess. The Cuban-born pitcher was a fan favorite in Miami, and Tyler Kepner of the New York Times described him as someone who “brought ebullience” to the game.

He was once jailed for attempting to defect from Cuba and even saved his mother from drowning during a defection attempt, per Kepner.

Though Fernandez was young, there was already so much to remember about him. The Marlins made sure their fans will do so for years to come by retiring his number.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Washington Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper suffered a wrist injury Sunday against the Pittsburgh Pirates. X-rays on his wrist were negative, according to Byron Kerr of MASNsports.com. 

It’s unclear when he’ll return to the field. 

Continue for updates.

Latest on Harper’s Timeline for Recovery 

Monday, Sept. 26

Nationals manager Dusty Baker said the swelling in Harper’s wrist has gone down, adding he might be able to play later this week, per Kerr.

Harper Suffers Wrist Injury During Slide

Sunday, Sept. 25

Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com reported Harper was holding his left wrist after sliding awkwardly into third base, and Chris Heisey replaced Harper in right field. 

Harper Continues to Battle Injuries in ’16

This is not the first health concern for Harper in 2016. He already dealt with neck stiffness earlier in the season that forced him to miss time.

Harper isn’t known for his durability and appeared in more than 139 contests in a season for the first time in his career when he played 153 last year. However, he is widely considered one of the best players in MLB and is the anchor in the middle of the Nationals lineup. Thus far, he’s hitting .244 with 24 home runs and 85 RBI in 2016.

Harper proved his overall dominance in 2015 with a National League MVP award behind video game-type numbers. The four-time All-Star and 2012 National League Rookie of the Year posted a .330 batting average, 42 home runs, 99 RBI, 38 doubles, 124 walks and a 1.109 OPS last year.

Washington is on the short list of teams with realistic World Series championship hopes this season, and Harper’s presence is a major reason why. If it plans on competing against teams such as the Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers for the NL pennant, it needs Harper back and healthy.

The Nationals will likely turn toward a combination of Clint Robinson and Heisey until their superstar returns.

Robinson is versatile enough to play either corner outfield spot and brought some power to the Washington lineup last year with 10 home runs. Heisey has hit as many as 18 home runs in a season (2011 with the Cincinnati Reds) and at least provides another potentially powerful option while Harper recovers.

However, neither is of Harper’s caliber, and Washington will be far more dangerous in the postseason push with the defending MVP healthy again.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Miami Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez died in a boating accident, the team announced Sunday morning, per Manny Navarro of the Miami Herald.

Andy Slater of 940 AM WINZ reported the boat Fernandez was on hit rocks going full speed and flew about 30 feet in the air before landing upside down. He added that one victim was found in the water and two were found under the boat. Fernandez was 24.

On Monday, authorities, via Baseball Tonight, revealed the boat was registered to Fernandez and announced that the other victims were Eduardo Rivero and Emilio Jesus Macias. The investigation into the accident continues, via Baseball Tonight.

A public visitation for Fernandez will be held on Wednesday followed by a private funeral ceremony on Thursday, via a Tuesday report from ESPN.com news services.

“The Miami Marlins organization is devastated by the tragic loss of Jose Fernandez,” the team said in a statement on Sunday. “Our thoughts and prayers are with his family at this very difficult time.”

Marlins manager Don Mattingly also expressed his thoughts at a press conference, via SportsCenter:

Major League Baseball, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred and MLBPA executive director Tony Clark also released statements:

Sunday’s game between the Marlins and Atlanta Braves was canceled, but the team will play Monday against the New York Mets, team president David Samson told reporters.

The Miami Dolphins will hold a moment of silence in honor of Fernandez before Sunday’s game against the Cleveland Browns, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.

Kevin McAlpin of 680 The Fan in Atlanta and Tim Healey of the Sun Sentinel passed along photos of the scene at Marlins Park, while Jon Weisman of the Dodgers showed Marlins shortstop Dee Gordon paying tribute to his teammate:

Teammate Giancarlo Stanton took to Instagram to express his thoughts:

Fernandez was one of the most dominant pitchers in the game and a bright young star.

“You recognize how precious life is,” Samson said, per MLB Network Radio. “And how taking things for granted is a fool man’s game.”

“When I think about Jose, I see such a little boy,” Mattingly told reporters. “The way he played, there was just joy with him.”

“We’re not robots,” Marlins infielder Martin Prado told reporters. “We’re humans. He made an impact on everyone. I understand we have to play games. But there’s a lot of pain.”

“Jose Fernandez is one of the most genuine guys I’ve ever played with,” former Marlins starter Dan Haren tweeted. “He loved life, he loved baseball…he will be missed dearly.”

Kansas City Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer tweeted: “Absolutely crushed hearing the news about Jose. Brought so much energy and passion towards life! You will be missed Papo RIP.”

Los Angeles Angels star Mike Trout also passed along his condolences:

Fernandez defected from Cuba at the age of 15. He had previously been caught trying to leave the country and spent time in a Cuban prison. From those humble origins, he became one of baseball’s most charismatic, talented and beloved players.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The Washington Nationals are your 2016 NL East champions, having clinched the division Saturday night. Their only worry right now is how much champagne stings when it gets in their eyes.

So, it’s up to us to worry about their path through the National League playoffs.

This doesn’t involve taking anything away from the season they’ve had, mind you. The Nats‘ 6-1 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park—which combined with the New York Mets‘ 10-8 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies to wrap up the NL East race—was their 90th with eight games to go. They have a shot of making it three 95-win teams in five years.

Even in getting this far, the Nats have made it look easy. There were only six days all season in which they didn’t have first place all to themselves. They’ve taken a division that many thought would be the domain of the reigning NL champion Mets and were a wire-to-wire juggernaut.

An MVP-caliber season out of free-agent signee Daniel Murphy has helped. So has a Cy Young-caliber season out of Max Scherzer, a free-agent signee from a year ago. Wilson Ramos, Trea Turner and Tanner Roark have also starred. Dusty Baker has been as advertised as the cure for what ailed the team under former manager Matt Williams in 2015.

But like an elephant and an elephant seal, making it through a 162-game season and making it through the postseason are two completely different animals.

Doing the former doesn’t guarantee anything with the latter, and the latest odds at FanGraphs don’t favor the Nats as World Series favorites as much as the NL’s other two division leaders:

• Chicago Cubs: 17.8%
• Los Angeles Dodgers: 15.3%
• Washington Nationals: 12.4%

It’s not surprising that the Cubs are the big favorites to win it all. All they’ve done this season is win 98 games and outscore their opponents by something like 1,000 runs. They’re good. Really good.

But the Dodgers over the Nationals? This despite the fact the Nationals have won more games? This despite the fact they would therefore have home-field advantage in the likely inevitable matchup between the two clubs in the National League Division Series?

It’s not actually that hot of a take.

With a 12-9 record in September, the Nationals aren’t backing into the postseason. But it is fair to say they’re stumbling in, having been tripped up by a roster with increasingly noticeable cracks in it.

Bryce Harper is the big one. There’s a he-said, they-said thing going on between Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated and the Nationals over the state of Harper’s health. Verducci has circled shoulder woes as reasons for Harper’s plummet from last year’s MVP-winning season on two occasions, most recently this week. The Nats have pushed back, with Baker telling Byron Kerr of MASN Sports: “I don’t know where he’s getting that from.”

Injury or no injury, though, Harper’s not right. His .814 OPS and 24 homers mark a pretty good “bad” season, but he entered Saturday with a .761 OPS and 15 homers since April and, even more concerning, just a .630 OPS and one homer in September.

With Harper struggling, the recent news on Murphy looms that much larger. The veteran second baseman is hitting .347 with an NL-best .987 OPS, but the Nats have shut him down with (resists urge to write “bum butt”) with a mild strain in his buttocks. Baker hasn’t promised Murphy will be ready for October.

“I’m not a doctor. I don’t know,” Baker told Bill Ladson of MLB.com. “[The trainers] are doing everything they can to try to alleviate the pain and get rid of whatever is in there. We have a capable [training] staff here. I’m glad he didn’t do it any worse.”

Washington’s lineup is thus dealing with the possibility of having Harper and Murphy at less than full strength in October. In the context of this being the No. 4 run-scoring offense in the NL, that’s not a big deal. In the context of the Nats offense being below average in the second half, it’s a big deal.

Meanwhile, the jury remains out on Stephen Strasburg. He’s been terrific when healthy in 2016, putting up a 3.60 ERA and striking out 11.2 batters per nine innings. But he’s out with a strained flexor mass in his right arm and has only progressed as far as playing catch. His return is up in the air.

On the bright side, Scherzer and Roark are an excellent one-two punch. And with Mark Melancon having cemented a closer role that Jonathan Papelbon routinely bungled, the starters have a good bullpen backing them up. Asking the Nats to win a short postseason series on the strength of their pitching isn’t asking too much.

But it won’t be easy.

Assuming the Nationals come up against the Dodgers in the NLDS, Scherzer and Roark will match up against the formidable trio of Clayton Kershaw, Rich Hill and Kenta Maeda. And as good as Washington’s bullpen is, the Dodgers’ pen is arguably the best in the entire National League. Los Angeles is also going into October with a red-hot offense. Only the Boston Red Sox have been more productive in the second half.

Even if the Nationals were to survive the Dodgers, their reward would likely be a date with the Cubs. The matchup problems would be deja vu all over again. It would be Scherzer and Roark against Jake Arrieta, Jon Lester and Kyle Hendricks. It would be Washington’s Melancon-led bullpen against Chicago’s Aroldis Chapman-led bullpen. And it would be Washington’s weakened offense against arguably the only NL offense better than the Dodgers.

As ominous as things sound, however, it can always be worse.

Injuries haven’t completely robbed the Nationals of their best qualities, a la the Cleveland Indians and their starting pitching. Strasburg may be out of commission, but even a reasonably healthy Murphy should be considered a threat after what he did last October. Let’s not forget that Harper has also been energized by October before, wreaking havoc in the 2014 NLDS.

And above all, there’s this: After failing as heavy favorites in 2012 and 2014, maybe being underdogs for a change is just what the Nationals need.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted/linked.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

A year after they imploded down the stretch, the Washington Nationals put the clamps on a division title, clinching the National League East on Saturday with a 6-1 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates and the New York Mets‘ 10-8 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies.

The win moved the Nationals to 90-64 on the year, while the Mets dropped to 82-73.

The division crown is Washington’s fourth in franchise history and third since the team moved from Montreal to the nation’s capital.

The Nationals’ official Twitter account relayed several shots of the team reveling in the glory of its accomplishment on Saturday night: 

Olympic swimming sensation Katie Ledecky also chimed in after Bryce Harper was spotted wearing a swim cap with her name on it: 

The Nationals were nine games up on the Mets when their chief NL East rivals made a trip to town Sept. 12 for a three-game series, and manager Dusty Baker’s club made a statement by winning two of three. 

“It’s real big,” center fielder Trea Turner said, per MASNSports.com’s Mark Zuckerman. “It’s the last time we’re going to play them. If they sweep us, it could be a lot different situation. Winning this series has, I think, been very big for us.”

The Nationals, who rank fourth in the NL in runs scored, have been buoyed by a balanced attack at the plate, though Harper entered Saturday batting just .243/.376/.442 with 24 home runs and 82 RBI.

Daniel Murphy—who signed a three-year, $37.5 million deal with the Nationals over the offseason—has mashed the ball, though. With the season drawing to a close, the MVP candidate is batting .347/.391/.596 with 25 home runs, 104 RBI and an NL-best 47 doubles.

“He’s been more than I think anybody dreamed that he would be,” Baker said, per CSN Mid-Atlantic’s Daniel Shiferaw.

Catcher Wilson Ramos has also been a revelation for the Nationals. A year after he batted just .229 with 15 home runs and 68 RBI, the 29-year-old has posted a .304 average, 22 dingers and 80 RBI while serving as a steady presence behind the plate.

Washington’s pitching staff has been similarly strong, ranking second in the NL in ERA. The Nationals bullpen has also thrived, posting the second-best ERA in the NL.

Max Scherzer has been potent with a 2.82 ERA and 0.93 WHIP while leading the National League in strikeouts en route to posting an 18-7 record.

The Nationals have the depth and firepower to challenge for the pennant in October, though besting the Chicago Cubs—whom they’re 2-5 against this season—won’t be an easy task. Washington will likely face the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLDS. 

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The Washington Nationals are on the verge of a playoff appearance, but a lingering injury to All-Star second baseman Daniel Murphy‘s buttocks could cause panic. 

Continue for updates.  

Nationals Briefly Shutting Murphy Down

Friday, Sept. 23

Per MLB.com’s Jamal Collier, an MRI revealed Murphy has a strain in his buttocks, and the Nationals are shutting him down for the next few days.

Murphy has not played in a game since September 20, only making a pinch-hit appearance in a 1-0 loss against the Miami Marlins while dealing with the injury. 

Murphy is having the best season of his career at the age of 31, leading the National League with a .596 slugging percentage and .987 OPS. He’s been a standout for the Nationals, who have needed his effort to offset a surprisingly down season for Bryce Harper. 

Murphy has been able to avoid major injuries this season after spending time on the disabled list in each of his last two seasons with the New York Mets. His breakout season does give the Nationals an anchor in the middle of the lineup, though they are fortunate to have more depth than in recent years. 

With Murphy out of the lineup, Trea Turner can shift to second base as he continues to also handle the outfield. He’s shown excellent promise in his initial exposure to major league pitching, so the Nationals should be optimistic he can hold down the fort.

Since the Nationals’ magic number to clinch the National League East is down to two, they can afford to be patient with Murphy and allow him to heal in order to be ready for the postseason. 

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

New York Mets starting pitcher Noah Syndergaard missed his scheduled start on Saturday against the Philadelphia Phillies due to a bout with strep throat. 

It is currently unclear when he’ll return to the mound. 

Continue for updates. 

Latest on Syndergaard’s Timeline for Return

Saturday, Sept. 24

Syndergaard threw a bullpen session on Saturday, and the Mets “remain hopeful” he’ll start on either Monday or Tuesday, according to Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. 

Syndergaard Essential to Mets’ Rotation 

The Mets started Sean Gilmartin in place of Syndergaard on Saturday. 

Syndergaard’s dominance on the mound has been a source of both excitement and anxiety for Mets fans.

The 24-year-old is 13-9 with a 2.63 ERA through 29 starts. According to FanGraphs, his 10.60 strikeouts per nine innings are fourth among qualified starting pitchers.

Of course, even Thor has his vulnerabilities, and his impressive velocity is both a blessing and a curse. According to MLB.com’s Statcast data, his four-seam fastball averages 98.3 mph, while his sinker comes in at 98.0 mph.

Since he throws so hard, many fans wondered whether arm trouble would become an issue, and that’s what happened in June. He visited a doctor after experiencing elbow discomfort during his June 22 start against the Kansas City Royals. His July 8 start also ended abruptly after he started suffering arm fatigue.

New York has already lost Matt Harvey for the rest of the season, and it’s anybody’s guess as to how his thoracic outlet syndrome will affect his performance in 2017. 

Syndergaard is essential to the Mets making a run in the postseason if they get in, especially with the winner-take-all stakes in the wild-card matchup. Not having their No. 1 starter available for more than one start would alter their ability to advance if they make the playoffs.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Following a report that a shoulder injury has hampered Washington Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper, the reigning NL MVP reportedly denied any issues in a closed-door meeting with management Tuesday. 

SI.com’s Tom Verducci wrote Tuesday that Harper is struggling through shoulder and neck ailments on the heels of missing a few games in August due to a neck injury.

Per Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post, Harper told general manager Mike Rizzo he did not have a shoulder injury, and trainer Paul Lessard confirmed he had not treated the 23-year-old superstar for any such problems.

Manager Dusty Baker commented on the situation as well and expressed confusion regarding the source of Verducci’s information: “Bryce said it didn’t come from him. Nobody really knows where it comes from because it’s not on the injury report. The trainer said no.”

After hitting .330 and raking 42 home runs to go along with 99 RBI last season, Harper is in the midst of a down year.

He entered play Thursday hitting just .240 with 24 homers and 82 RBI, although he does lead the NL with 106 walks.

Despite Harper failing to live up to expectations, the Nats hold a healthy nine-game lead over the New York Mets in the NL East, and they may be the team to beat in the National League aside from the Chicago Cubs.

Regardless of Harper’s health, Washington will likely need more from him as it makes a push for the World Series.

Harper’s high walk total suggests the opposition still respects him, though, and his mere presence makes life easier for other offensive stars such as Wilson Ramos, Daniel Murphy, Anthony Rendon and Trea Turner to produce at the plate.

Follow @MikeChiari on Twitter.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The Atlanta Braves tried fastballs and changeups, sliders and cutters, in and out, up and down.

Whatever they threw, wherever they threw it, Trea Turner hit it. It got to be a little ridiculous—so ridiculous that when Turner came to the plate for the Washington Nationals on Saturday, Don Sutton called him “George Herman Ruth Turner” on Braves radio.

Turner had a big weekend at Turner Field—not named for him, the Braves insist. But Turner is having big weekends and big weeks everywhere, and it’s about time everyone realizes that while baseball is flooded with young stars, Turner is one of the best.

The Braves sure know it, after eight hits in 12 at-bats, including five for extra bases. That’s eight hits, seven runs and three stolen bases—all in three days.

“It’s tough to be back there catching with him hitting,” Braves catcher Tyler Flowers said Monday. “You really start to question if you know what you’re doing. But you know what, to this point, he really presents no weaknesses—at least none that anyone has found yet, us included.”

Turner was supposed to be good. He was a first-round draft pick and a top-five prospect, according to Baseball America. In spring training, the only question was how soon he would take over as the Nationals’ starting shortstop.

He still hasn’t, because Danny Espinosa has played better than many expected. The Nationals brought Turner to the major leagues as a second baseman and center fielder weeks before his 23rd birthday. He’s now established as their leadoff man and center fielder.

He’s become one of the best young players in the game, and he’s doing it playing center field, a position he barely played in the minor leagues.

Not that you’d know it.

“I saw him play shortstop in Triple-A, and I’ve seen him play second base and center field here, and he plays them all well,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “He’s a baseball player. You could put him at first base, and he’d look like a first baseman. He could probably pitch if you needed him to.”

The Braves can’t stop talking about Turner, because he never stopped hitting against them.

His 1.424 OPS in 13 games was the fourth-highest anyone has had against a Braves team (minimum 50 plate appearances)—in Boston, Milwaukee or Atlanta. Only Willie Stargell (1.742 in 1971), Jason Thompson (1.460 in 1982) and Carlos Beltran (1.451 in 2006) were ahead of Turner, according to research done through Baseball-Reference.com’s play index.

Hall of Famers Rogers Hornsby (1.406 in 1923) and Frank Robinson (1.389 in 1962) were just behind him.

So yeah, he’s been good. And not just against the Braves, either.

Because the Nationals didn’t call him up for good until July, Turner won’t qualify for the National League batting title. But if you count everyone with 200 or more plate appearances, his .355 batting average entering play Monday was the best in the major leagues. His .967 OPS ranked fourth, behind David Ortiz (1.029), Daniel Murphy (.991) and Mike Trout (.990).

“They told me he was an impact player,” Nationals manager Dusty Baker said. “I was told that by Delino DeShields, who had him in the [Arizona] Fall League. You don’t hear that very often. He is an impact player, especially at the top of the order. He causes mistakes.”

It would be easy to say the Nationals made a mistake when they kept Turner in Triple-A for the first three months of the season, but they’re going to win the National League East anyway. He was there when they needed him, when Ben Revere and Michael Taylor had flopped atop the batting order and the Nationals needed someone else to lead off and play center field.

It didn’t matter that Turner was a middle infielder, a shortstop who had played some second base. Espinosa was doing fine at short, and Murphy was set at second, so Turner went and played where he was needed.

People who knew him weren’t surprised he could adapt, and they weren’t surprised he could handle playing for a first-place team in the big leagues. What they didn’t expect was the power.

Turner never hit more than eight home runs in any of his three college seasons at North Carolina State. He came to the plate 821 times in his first two minor league seasons and hit 13.

He didn’t homer in his first 76 major league plate appearances this season, either. Now he has 11.

“His hands are lightning,” Snitker said. “He’s a wiry, strong kid. He’s like a throwback.”

Yeah, he’s strong. When Turner hit a walk-off home run Sept. 9—his second homer of the game—MLB.com’s Statcast estimated it traveled 440 feet, with an exit velocity of 106.7 mph.

And that wasn’t even against the Braves.

Danny Knobler covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.

Follow Danny on Twitter and talk baseball.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The injury bug has been trying to block the New York Mets from returning to the World Series in 2016. Credit the Mets for putting up a strong resistance.

But the fight has finally been lost.

Jacob deGrom was set to return from a forearm injury Sunday, thereby restoring a power arm to a diminished starting rotation. So much for that. Rather than taking the mound against the Minnesota Twins, Barry M. Bloom of MLB.com reported deGrom likely won’t pitch again this season.

“Jacob has had issues with the ulnar nerve in his right elbow, which is not unusual after Tommy John surgery, even during the time after that surgery,” Mets general manager Sandy Alderson said, per Bloom. “He will not pitch tomorrow. I think it’s unlikely he will pitch the rest of the season. We’ll see.”

The right-hander didn’t have any trouble in a Friday bullpen session, but he felt pain after making a throw while shagging balls during batting practice Friday. That convinced the Mets to shut him down, and it’s likely to lead to offseason surgery.

So it goes for the Mets. Losing a pitcher with a 2.74 career ERA fits with a trend of bad breaks that, as James Wagner of the New York Times highlights here, has all but destroyed their Opening Day roster:

The bottom list may not include Steven Matz, but that might just be a matter of time. The Mets have not yet offered a return date from a bum shoulder for the young left-hander.

According to ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark, they haven’t been brimming with optimism:

If Matz can’t return, at least the Mets still have Noah Syndergaard and Bartolo Colon for the stretch run and the postseason. But they only have Seth Lugo, Robert Gsellman and Gabriel Ynoa after them. Even if Matz does return, his workload will surely be limited.

The good news is deGrom‘s absence and Matz‘s up-in-the-air status don’t necessarily kill New York’s chances of making the postseason.

The Mets hold a two-game lead on the St. Louis Cardinals for the National League‘s second wild-card spot. The Cardinals are not playing well, and the Mets have the advantage of playing only one winning team, the Miami Marlins, in the closing weeks of the regular season.

Plus, the bad vibes shouldn’t mask how well the Mets are playing. They’ve won nine of their last 12 games.

Assuming the Mets do indeed close on a wild-card berth, they’d be in good shape to take the next step. They’re on track to play the San Francisco Giants, who are backing into October as the NL’s worst second-half team. The Mets have Syndergaard, an electric pitcher who happens to be red-hot, slated to start the Wild Card Game on Oct. 5.

Even if the Mets get past the Wild Card Game, they’ll have these guys waiting for them:

At 94-53, the Chicago Cubs have already clinched the NL Central and are running away in the race for the NL’s top seed. They’ll await the winner of the Wild Card Game, ready to unleash the league’s most well-rounded attack in their quest to end their 108-year championship drought.

Of course, it was the Mets who pushed the drought from 107 to 108 when they swept the Cubs in last year’s National League Championship Series. Daniel Murphy, now with the Washington Nationals, had a big hand in that, but Chicago’s inability to handle New York’s power pitching was the deciding factor.

Should the Mets and Cubs meet again in this year’s NLDS, the Mets won’t be able to go back to the power pitcher. The only dominant pitcher from last year’s NLCS still at full health is Syndergaard. If he pitches in the Wild Card Game, he would only be available for one start in the NLDS.

It’s true what they say about nobody being able to predict baseball. And that may go double for postseason baseball—an entirely different animal.

But sorry, it’s hard to imagine the Mets beating the Cubs in a five-game series with just one start from Syndergaard. The Cubs would have a better offense, a better defense and arguably a better bullpen than the Mets. Getting just one start from Syndergaard would render the Mets unable to match up with Chicago’s starting foursome of Jake Arrieta, Jon Lester, Kyle Hendricks and John Lackey.

If the Mets were to pull off a miracle and survive into the NLCS, they’d run into that same matchup problem against either the Los Angeles Dodgers or Washington Nationals. The Dodgers have an excellent trio in Clayton Kershaw, Rich Hill and Kenta Maeda. The Nationals have lost Stephen Strasburg, but they still have Max Scherzer, Tanner Roark and Gio Gonzalez.

Thinking this far ahead may be pointless. Having Syndergaard lined up for a likely matchup against the Giants in the NL Wild Card Game gives the Mets a good shot at advancing, but it wouldn’t be automatic. The Giants have Madison Bumgarner lined up for Oct. 5, and we all know what he can do under pressure.

If deGrom had been able to return Sunday, it would be possible to paint a more optimistic picture of the Mets’ future. His presence likely wouldn’t have impacted the Wild Card Game, but the Mets could have used him twice against the Cubs. Under those circumstances, we could be looking at the Mets as just the team to challenge Chicago’s status as the obvious favorites in the National League.

But now there’s no arguing with the odds. FanGraphs gives the Mets a 13.0 percent chance of going to the NLCS, a 4.2 percent chance of going to the World Series and a 1.6 percent chance of winning it all.

The odds say it’s not happening, and with deGrom out of the picture, they may even be a little generous.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted/linked.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com