New York Mets’ winning streak is nice, but they still have a lot of work to do

The New York Mets have every reason to feel good about themselves. After failing to win a road series in more than three months, the Mets have ripped off two consecutive road series wins this week. Adding to the excitement is the fact that the Mets have won four games in a row for the first time since April, with the last two coming at Target Field against one of the American League’s best teams, the Minnesota Twins. Manager Mickey Callaway has been talking about getting back into the playoff hunt for the past few days, and there are corners of the fan base that are still believers in this team’s ability to make a run to October.

Despite all the good feelings a 4-1 start to the road trip provides, the cold reality is that the Mets still have a long way to go before they even can dream about playoff contention. The Mets can definitely point to the fact that they left the field on Wednesday only five games back of the second wild card spot, but that figure is a bit deceptive. While the games total is accurate, the Mets have to climb over eight other teams to get to that spot, which is a tall order.

Then there is the fact that the Mets are seven games below the .500 mark. It’s hard to talk about the playoffs when you are that far below the break-even point, and even if the Mets sweep the San Francisco Giants this weekend they’d still be three games under the .500 plateau. It’s hard to take playoff talk seriously with the Mets that far below .500, a byproduct of their miserable June, but the mediocre National League will continue to give them hope.

Perhaps there is a world where the Zack Wheeler shoulder injury was a blessing in disguise, sinking his value to the point that the Mets hold onto him at the deadline and have Wheeler help them on a playoff run. The Mets’ schedule eases up considerably in the second half, with very few games against playoff contenders and a huge amount of home games still to come. While you may be able to squint and see a path to the playoffs for the Mets, that talk is still extremely premature with the Mets a ways away from .500.