Wild Card Update: Mets Holding Third Wild Card

There are four teams, three spots, and a little more than two weeks to go. One team will be left at home watching.

“It’s time to win baseball games,” Francisco Lindor said after Wednesday’s dramatic 6-2 victory in Toronto.

Let’s glimpse the state of each Wild Card contender as they approach the mad dash to the finish line. (All four teams are off Thursday.)

Arizona Diamondbacks (82-64, +2)

The Diamondbacks have scored 32 runs in their last three games, all wins, as they’ve jumped into the top Wild Card position with 16 games left. Ketel Marte recently missed 16 games with an ankle injury. He returned last Friday and was 0-for-11 over three games before going 3-for-4 Wednesday with his 31st home run and four RBIs in a 14-4 victory over the Texas Rangers. A healthy, hot Marte (.295/.368/.557) is a huge boost to the lineup.

A year ago, Arizona went 84-78, grabbed a Wild Card spot, and took off on a surprising run to the NL pennant.

Arizona has seven games left with NL Central-leading Milwaukee, including three at home this weekend. They finish the season hosting the San Diego Padres. Fangraphs has their playoff odds at 93 percent.

San Diego Padres (82-65, +1.5)

Luis Arráez, who leads the National League in hitting (.317), is slashing .425/.452/.425 in September. He is 17-for-40 this month with no extra-base hits. San Diego welcomed the return of 38-year-old Yu Darvish (5-3, 3.52 ERA) on Sept. 4, and he earned his first win in more than three months on Tuesday, giving up two runs over five innings.

The Padres visit San Francisco this weekend before a six-game homestand with the Astros and White Sox. Fangraphs also puts their playoff odds at 93 percent.

New York Mets (80-66, -)

It’s a rough finish – 13 of the final 16 against the Phillies, Braves and Brewers – but the Mets have shown mettle all year. New York looked dead on Wednesday – no-hit through eight innings – when Lindor improved his MVP case with a game-tying home run.

The Mets travel to Philadelphia this weekend and see the Phillies again at Citi Field for four games next weekend. In between is the only soft spot in the schedule – a three-game series with the Washington Nationals.

“We know what’s ahead of us,” manager Carlos Mendoza said after Wednesday’s win. “A really good team.” Fangraphs has the playoff odds at 57 percent. (For the dreamers, New York has a 0.6 percent chance at winning the division. They are eight games back.)

Atlanta Braves (79-67, 1)

Cy Young favorite Chris Sale (16-3, 2.38 ERA) has hurled 13 scoreless innings in September while punching out 16 and walking one. And it appears he would be scheduled to pitch in a showdown series with the Mets from Sept. 24-26 in Atlanta.

However, manager Brian Snitker is concerned about the other side of the ball. Atlanta is 10th in the National League in runs scored.

“You can’t win 3-1 all the time,” he said after the Braves lost 5-1 to the Washington Nationals on Wednesday. “I mean we have to consistently score more runs.”

Atlanta hosts the Los Angeles Dodgers for four games this weekend before a six-game road trip to Cincinnati and Miami. Fangraphs has their playoff odds at 56 percent.

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