Apparently there’s still a way for the New York Mets to make the playoffs in the year 2020. I haven’t fact checked it yet, but it comes from a very reputable source, and it doesn’t involve the entire National League catching a virus. Just bear with me.

All those things are very possible and could easily happen this week. All of them happening together? Not so much, but we’re grasping at straws with the Mets at 25-30 and having no chance to finish the season with a winning record. At the very least, I can lock in the Phillies losing their series vs. the Rays after last night’s debacle.

Philadelphia had already lost Game 1 of its doubleheader in Washington and fallen behind 6-3 in Game 2. Joe Girardi’s team battled back to send the game into extra innings and took a one-run lead in the eighth. In the bottom of the inning, with Brandon Workman on the mound, Washington’s Yadiel Hernandez, a 32-year-old rookie from Cuba, hit his first ever big league home run to send the Phillies packing.

That is a bat flip of someone who expects to hit many more home runs in the major leagues.

Blown leads surrendered by the closer that your team for some reason gave up real assets for? These are the things that only happen to the Mets, but the Phillies have been very Mets-like recently. They break their fans’ hearts and underachieve at every turn, and they should probably miss the playoffs just to spare their faithful supporters the inevitable disappointment.

That might open up a spot for the Mets, who got a great pitching performance from Seth Lugo last night and defeated Tampa Bay 5-2. I was especially excited about Pete Alonso finally hit a home run to right field and Guillermo Heredia announcing his presence with authority to extend the Mets’ lead in the seventh inning.

I still don’t know who that Heredia guy is, but unlike the rest of Twitter, I looked it up. Heredia came up with the Mariners in 2016 and played three seasons with them as a defense-first outfielder. I remember some of that part. In 2019 he played a similar role with Tampa Bay after Seattle sent him there in an offseason trade. This past winter, Heredia joined Pittsburgh as a free agent, but he only played eight games with them before being designated for assignment in late August. The Mets snatched him on waivers after Jake Marisnick landed on the injured list with a hamstring injury.

So that’s your history lesson on Heredia. He shouldn’t be starting very much because he’s never hit well, but he’s fine as a fill-in or late-inning replacement. They very much alive Mets are back at it tonight with Michael Wacha on the mound opposite Tyler Glasnow. That’s not the biggest mismatch I’ve ever seen, but it’s also not good for New York’s playoff chances.