Home cooking could be New York Mets’ key to success

The New York Mets haven’t been a great road team this season. After going 3-3 on their latest trip to Atlanta and Kansas City, the Mets are just 30-39 in games away from Citi Field this season. The good news is that the Mets only have to play 12 more road games during the rest of the regular season, with a whopping 26 still to come at home, where the Mets have been a far better baseball team.

So far, the Mets are 34-21 at home, an outstanding .618 winning percentage at Citi Field. The Mets have three home stands remaining: a nine game one beginning tonight, a 10 gamer, and a seven gamer to end the season. A lot of those games come against contenders, such as the Atlanta Braves, Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Indians, and Los Angeles Dodgers. The home field advantage should be massive for the Mets, who have played 17-16 ball against winning teams at Citi Field this season.

The Mets are playing much better baseball now, so if they are able to duplicate that .618 winning percentage over their final 26 home games they’d go 16-10 at Citi Field. That would put the Mets at 80-70, giving them an excellent chance to make the playoffs if they can go 7-5 or better in their remaining road games. When the schedule came out a year ago, optimists circled this portion of the slate as a massive advantage for the Mets if they were in the hunt. The Mets have done their part so far, and now they have to take advantage of this gift from the scheduling gods.