I agree on the Mets.
The best thing the Mets can do to is to manage their arms. They have opened up a decent lead, and they have a bunch of pitchers who've all started but have durability issues. They can manage them down the stretch, and then have some operate out of the pen (Walker's never been an innings-eater in his career and has always had durability concerns. Megill's been injured much of the year. Degrom's just coming back. etc).
Given how modern baseball approaches the postseason, you can almost see something like this in a 7-game series.
Game 1: Scherzer goes 5/6; you bridge the bullpen and get Diaz the save opp (W)
Game 2: Degrom goes 4/5 but doesn't have the stuff and you want to manage his innings; get Walker/Peterson/Megill in for a few innings (L)
Game 3: Bassitt gets in trouble early so you burn Carrasco too to get out of it (presumed game 4 starter); Mets rally and you form the bridge to Diaz (W)
Game 4: No Carrasco but someone like Walker/Peterson can give you a few innings each; bullpen game (L)
Game 5: Scherzer goes 6; no problems (W)
Game 6: Degrom goes 4 but gets in trouble, and you need to try to win the series; you bring in Bassitt for a few innings; tough loss (L)
Game 7: Carrasco can start; as soon as he gets in trouble, if it's a lefty-heavy lineup, Peterson gets the ball; whoever isn't burned out of Walker/Megill can take a couple of innings; Scherzer is crazy, so he'll probably want an inning in there; and then you have the bridge to Diaz to win the series.
There are so many options in there. You can have a not-100% Degrom, a relatively meh Bassitt, burning next game starters, etc, and it's still few problems to see out 7 games. It's not like they have to rely on 3 guys to go 7+ innings every night. They can mix-and-match based on form and injuries.
It's their best chance since 2015 for sure.
