On Thursday, the Cubs completed a three-game sweep of the Mets in New York. That sweep comes after another three-game home sweep for New York, courtesy of the Braves. The back-to-back sweeps marked the first time since they were swept in consecutive series since a May 31-June 6 stretch last season. Now, as we enter the final month of the regular season, the Mets' playoff hopes are fading, and they're fading fast.

New York's second-half surge has come to a brutal halt, and now they're left with slim chances to make another push. The Sportsline playoff projection model gives the Mets a mere 3.2 percent of playing in October, while Fangraphs is a bit more lenient giving the club a 13.8 percent chance. Three weeks ago, the Mets were just a half-game back of the final wild card spot after going on a 15-1 run. Entering the weekend, they're now five games back.

The Mets rolled out three of their best starters in this most recent series versus the Cubs, but Chicago's offense wasn't slowed down at all. Against Marcus Stroman, Noah Syndergaard and Jacob deGrom, the Cubs knocked seven home runs off the three right-handers. In Thursday's loss, deGrom gave up a pair of homers to Victor Caratini, one of which happened to be a tie-breaking, three-run shot in the seventh inning. The two home runs ended deGrom's streak of 17 straight starts allowing three or fewer earned runs.

"The biggest thing is coming into New York and [beating Marcus] Stroman, [Noah] Syndergaard and [Jacob] deGrom," Wednesday's winning pitcher Jon Lester told ESPN after the sweep. "That's the big thing for us. It's a big confidence booster for our hitters."

Aside from Pete Alonso (who recently claimed the Mets single-season home run record) and Wilson Ramos (who is carrying a 22-game hitting streak into Friday's game in Philadelphia), the Mets offense got really quiet at a really bad time. During the team's six-game losing streak, they're slashing just .224/.283/.370. The Mets had seven hits or less in four of the losses. In the three games against the Cubs, the Mets went 3 for 23 with runners in scoring position.

The Mets have been resilient all season, but the belief that this team can bounce back down the stretch may be far-stretched. New York will not only have to see ace-like performances return for their rotation, but the offense is going to have to start heating back up. Everything will have to go perfectly for the club in this last month of play, plus the Mets need to have some luck if they hope to chase down the Phillies, Brewers and Diamondbacks in the wild card standings.

As of Friday, 29 games are left in their regular season. The Mets will play 17 of those games at Citi Field, which may not have the same advantage it once had before their 3-6 homestand. Waiting in line to face the Mets in September are the Phillies (2 1/2 games back of the final wild card spot), the Nationals (who have sole possession of the first wild card spot) along with two of the best teams in baseball, the Dodgers and Braves.