These days, and possibly for the days to come in the 2015 season, it's good to be the New York Mets. Not only have the Mets surged past the Washington Nationals into first place in the NL East, but also they've come out of perhaps their toughest stretch of schedule all season in great position to add to their division lead.
According to data gathered from Stats, LLC and published in the Wall Street Journal, the Mets have the easiest schedule in Major League Baseball from here to Game 162. As of Monday, they had a league-low 14 games remaining against teams with .500 or better records, and the combined winning percentage of future opponents was a league-worst .455. The Nationals also have an "easy" schedule based on this metric -- their opponents have a combined winning percentage of .470 -- but they also have 19 games against .500-or-better teams, including 13 away from Nationals Park.
The Mets have just five away games against teams currently with records of .500 or better. Further, the Cubs and Giants -- who lead the Nationals (and Mets, hypothetically) in the wild-card race, have tougher schedules the rest of the way. Even if the Mets slip up in the division, there's reason to believe they could make a move on the wild-card spot as insurance.
From the Wall Street Journal:
Not only will the Mets square off against baseball's bottom-feeders in their final 57 games, they will play them at the best possible time. Many of their upcoming foes sold off key pieces at the deadline, leaving them even worse off than before.
For instance, they have seven games left against the dismal Colorado Rockies, who just shipped their best player, shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, to the Toronto Blue Jays. They have 10 games coming against baseball's worst team, the Philadelphia Phillies, who just traded their ace (Cole Hamels) and their All-Star closer (Jonathan Papelbon). The Mets have already won eight of nine games against the Phillies and seven of 11 against the Marlins this season.
More important, they've gone 7-6 against the rival Nationals, a departure from 2014, when they lost 15 of 19 to them. "The one thing I think we had to prove to ourselves is that we could play with the Nationals,” Collins said. "I think it was good for us to say, "Hey, look, we can play with these guys.' That was why I thought the last three days were huge for us.”
As the WSJ also points out, you can't take for granted that a team with a worse record will just roll over and die against a team with the better record. It worked against the Mets in 2007 when playing the last-place Marlins, and New York lost a playoff spot after dropping two of three to the Fish. There are countless other examples, too.
