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Mets rollercoaster season leads to NL wild card berth

The New York Mets are postseason bound.

With Saturday’s 5-3 win against the Phillies, the Mets have officially locked themselves in as the National League’s top wild card team. Now they’ll wait for a resolution between the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals to find out which team they’ll host in Wednesday’s wild-card game.

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What a ride it’s been for the Mets just to get here. Over the last six months and 161 games, they have experienced their share of highs, such as Saturday’s dramatic clincher. Mid-season acquisition James Loney, who many had written off, provided the decisive blow with a two-run homer in the sixth inning.

By the same token, the Mets also seemingly lead the league in lows. Between injuries to multiple key members of their starting rotation, inconsistencies offensively and persistent speculation that Terry Collins was managing for his job, the team itself was on the verge of being written off several times. Yet here we stand, on the first day of October, knowing that the Mets will be hosting the NL wild-card game.

James Loney is congratulated after hitting a two-run home run in the Mets wild card-clinching win against the Phillies. (Getty Images)
James Loney is congratulated after hitting a two-run home run in the Mets wild card-clinching win against the Phillies. (Getty Images)

If this were an award acceptance speech, the Mets would be on stage a long time. With injuries have come opportunities, and with those opportunities have come a mix of big moments and growing pains for several young and unproven pitchers. Among them are Seth Lugo, Robert Gsellman, Logan Verrett, Garbriel Ynoa and Sean Gilmartin. Some have performed better than others, but each has done something to further the cause.

Of course, none of their contributions would have mattered without Noah Syndergaard and Bartolo Colon playing the role of pillars while Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom and Steven Matz have dealt with injuries. Colon was in the middle of Saturday’s clincher, pitching five innings of two-run ball.

As noted, the Mets offense has been running hot and cold all season. It’s been heating up this week, and it’s capable of staying that way with veterans like Yoenis Cespedes, Jay Bruce, Curtis Granderson and Asdrubal Cabrera. As Daniel Murphy showed us last postseason with the Mets, sometimes all it takes is one guy to carry the load. The Mets have several who could fill that role again.

Right now though it’s all about celebrating the journey and embracing the challenge that lies ahead.

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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!