The New York Mets have lost 11 of their last 15 games to put their postseason plans in peril.
The Mets (80-76) will look to change their fortune on Tuesday when they begin a season-ending six-game road trip with a three-game series against the host Chicago Cubs (88-68).
Although New York has the same record as Cincinnati, the surging Reds (80-76) occupy the third and final wild-card spot in the National League by virtue of winning four of the six games in the season series.
The Cubs did New York no favors by being unceremoniously swept by Cincinnati in a four-game series over the weekend.
Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor, however, is focused on his team after it dropped a 3-2 decision to the Washington Nationals on Sunday.
“We put ourselves in this position, so we have got to find a way to get out of it,” Lindor said, per the New York Post. “That comes down to winning.”
The Mets haven’t been doing much of that over the last three months. Once the owners of the majors’ best record, they are 35-52 since June 13.
“It’s been happening right in front of our eyes, so I can definitely believe it,” said Mets outfielder Brandon Nimmo. “We’re down to the last week of the season. Our playoff hopes are in front of us.”
New York left-hander David Peterson (9-6, 3.98 ERA) will get the start on Tuesday against Chicago rookie right-hander Cade Horton (11-4, 2.66).
Peterson has struggled of late, surrendering 21 earned runs on 28 hits in his last four outings (17 1/3 innings). He yielded six runs on six hits in five innings of a 7-4 setback to the San Diego Padres on Wednesday.
Peterson, 30, is 1-2 with a 4.91 ERA in five career appearances (all starts) against the Cubs.
Horton, in turn, improved to 8-1 with an 0.93 ERA in his last 11 starts after allowing one run on three hits in five innings of Chicago’s 4-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates last Tuesday.
An amazing stretch to be certain, but Cubs pitching coach Tommy Hottovy told the Chicago Tribune that the team wants to see the final turn in the rotation involving Horton, Shota Imanaga, Matthew Boyd and Colin Rea before naming the starters for their upcoming wild-card series.
“I hate telling a guy one thing, and then something comes up, you change your mind, or an injury happens or something, so we want to cross the finish line,” Hottovy said. “We’ll line these guys up accordingly after that. But I think as soon as those guys start getting through these last starts, we’ll probably have a good idea where they’re going to be.”
Horton, 24, won his lone career encounter versus the Mets on May 10, allowing three runs on four hits in four innings of a 6-5 victory while making his major league debut out of the bullpen.
Although the NL Central title is no longer in play, Chicago is vying for the top wild-card spot and home-field advantage for the best-of-three series. It enters the week with a three-game lead over the Padres for a home wild-card series.
“We’ve got something in front of us for this last week, and we’ve got to look at that as a good thing,” manager Craig Counsell said after the Cubs’ 1-0 loss to the Reds on Sunday. “We want to win some games this week and … earn a home game (next) Tuesday.”