Before I start, I realized recently that on the last post both links are the same, later today I will change that when I have more time. Also, through a comment someone brought up something pretty important about Micheal Abreu, check it out, it should be two articles down. (This too I will put in a separate post later today).
Our Journey through the season has brought us to the dog days of summer. July on paper looked like a pretty easy month for the Amazin's. What about August? Will they their bullpen start to be wearing down? Will the pen being looking forward towards September when rosters expand so they can rest up? Here is a break down of the games the Amazin's play in August:
FLA 6
WAS 3
ATL 3
PHI 2
HOU 7
SD 3
PIT 4
When looking at this list from a perspective of last years' final stats, out of the 28 games (15 away, 13 home), the Mets will only be playing 2 games against a playoff team (5 if you count SD as a playoff team), and they will only be playing 8 games against teams that had records above .500. (In terms of division, 14 vs the east and 14 vs other).
That being said, this month, that looks pretty easy right now on paper can be a lot harder than it actually is. Houston, although I do not agree with most of their moves, has made a slew of minor upgrades and could, and probably be a much tougher team to play than they were last year. (Although I am not really too concerned, but with the weak NL Central, there is plenty of room for another team besides the the Cubs to end up above .500).
This month, the Mets get a small dose of their main rivals, the Braves and the Phils, and only have a combined 5 games against them. These are the five games that are must win for the Mets. In a two game set, they need to take both, and in the 3 game set, they have to take at least 2 of 3. It is hard to say these situations though before the seasons has actually started, because the situation around these games cannot be predicted before spring training begins.
