Reese Kaplan -- The "Other" Magic Number is Just 2

Abracadabra and Alakazam!  It's magic number time for the New York Mets as they try to wrap up their ranking for October postseason baseball.

For folks in need of a brief refresher on the concept, the so-called "Magic Number" refers to the combination of Mets team victories and opponents' team losses that will signify clinching an arbitrary postseason position.  For the Mets right now the big magic number is 15 which means they need some combination of wins and likely Braves' losses to win the NL Eastern Division.  For example, if the Mets win 8 games while the Braves lose 7, then they would be the division winners.  

While everyone obviously wants to see the Mets do that, there's another magic number that most of us haven't noticed much over the years of watching September baseball.  In this case it is the magic number of 2 which is all it will take for the Mets to clinch a position in the playoffs.  Think that one over for a minute.  For all of the naysayers certain that the defending (and perennially competitive) Atlanta Braves are going to trample on the Mets dream of getting to play in October, all it's going to take is one more win and one loss by other playoff contenders around the National League and the Mets will be assured of a place in the first round of the playoffs.  

Considering the mostly losing records the Mets have put together starting with the ugly Terry Collins years, that's a dramatic leap forward into baseball credibility.  It is a moment to stop to tip your cap to Steve Cohen, outgoing Sandy Alderson, beleaguered and disrespected Billy Eppler, skipper Buck Showalter and the large cast of characters who don uniforms, swing bats, wear gloves and throw baseballs.  

In Steve Cohen's first year at the the helm the Mets finished under .500 at 77-85 in third place, 11.5 games behind Atlanta who won and 5 games behind the Philadelphia who came in second.  Now in 2022 the Mets not only are virtually assured of a postseason berth by bringing in new coaches, a new GM and many new players, but with 94 wins currently on the stat sheet and 13 games left to play (as of the morning of September 20th) they have a legitimate shot of winning over 100 games.  Everyone associated with the team deserves to take a bow for that 23+ game improvement in winning in Steve Cohen's sophomore year as team owner.  

While most of us are fretting over who is up, who is down, who needs to be healthy and who needs to go home, the fact remains that the playoff dream is coming true.  Yes, we would all like to see the Mets somehow manage to wrest the divisional title out of the hands of the Atlanta Braves, but the main goal always was getting into the playoffs.  After all, that October entry into the next phase of championship baseball is what really matters.  A few days from now we should smile and declare, "Mission accomplished!"