Seven wins in ten games, and it doesn't matter

The Mets have gone 7-3 over their last ten games, outscoring opponents by more than a run a game after spending most of the season on the wrong side of that ledger. Nolan McLean is 11-8 with a 3.06 ERA and has looked like a genuine top-of-rotation arm. Christian Scott is striking out better than a batter per inning. Carson Benge is hitting .313 on the year and has been the lineup's most reliable presence all season. This is real baseball, played reasonably well.

It is also, almost certainly, too late. The Mets sit 66-77, ten games behind the last wild-card spot with twenty games remaining. The elimination number is 24. To catch the wild card, they would need to go something close to 18-2 while the team ahead of them collapses — a sequence that does not happen. The math isn't close.

What makes this stretch worth noting is what it says about the roster rather than the standings. The Mets lost manager Carlos Mendoza mid-season, traded David Peterson, cycled through injuries to Soto, Lindor, and multiple bullpen arms, and still found a way to play winning baseball in September. That's not nothing, even when it's also not enough.

Twenty games left. The Mets will play them. Some will be worth watching.