DPR: The Blue Jays break through

I don’t think there is anything — and I mean ANYTHING — in life more predictable than the New York Mets making life hard on themselves and their fans. The Mets came into the weekend with a two-game lead in the wildcard race and a three-game series at home against the woeful Washington Nationals, who had already clinched last place in the National League East for the fifth time since winning the World Series in 2019.

Their wildcard rivals — the Cincinnati Reds and Arizona Diamondbacks — were playing the playoff-bound Cubs and Phillies, respectively.

It sure seemed like a nice weekend to build a little bit of a cushion going into the final week.

But, alas, the Mets are the Mets are the Mets, and the Nationals beat them on back-to-back nights — including Sunday’s thriller that involved not one but TWO absurd catches by the remarkable Jacob Young.

This first catch was an all-timer just because of its weirdness. The Mets’ Brett Baty — it’s hard to imagine a better baseball name than Brett Baty, right? — sent a ball soaring to center. Young — who is a defensive maestro and a real reason to check in on the Nationals even in their state of woe — raced back for it and, at the wall, needed to make several body adjustments to catch the ball. He did catch it, sort of, but then his glove slapped against the wall, the ball popped free and seemed headed for the ground.

So Young, somehow, while off balance, simply kicked the ball back up to himself.

Put a star next to that one in your scorecard!

The second one came in the ninth when pinch-hitter Francisco Alvarez torched a 111-mph scorcher to center — Statcast estimates that it would have been a home run in 12 ballparks. The funny thing is that they list Citi Field as one of the parks where it’s NOT a home run … and it does seem possible when you see it from the side angle that the ball would have hit the top of the wall.

Either way, it was another Jacob Young miracle. And the Nationals won 3-2.

Meanwhile, the Reds — who I learned on Sunday are managed by Terry Francona* — beat the Cubs 1-0. Aside, that was the 55th Blyleven of the season. Blylevens are 1-0 games, and this marks the most Blylevens in a single year since 2014.

Cincinnati is now tied with the Mets for the final wildcard spot. BUT, really, the Reds are ahead now because they won the season series 4-2. So, yeah, Mets fans — at least the ones I know, and I know a lot of them — are back in their natural state of full-fledged panic.

But the Diamondbacks are at this party too — they took two of three from the Phillies and are just one game back. Yes, their final six games are against the Dodgers and Padres, and yes, they also lose the tiebreaker to the Reds. But as boxing trainer Lou Duva supposedly said, you can sum up the sport in two words: You never know.

They waited a little bit longer than most people wanted, yes, but Toronto is now the first American League team to clinch a playoff spot — they finally beat those scrappy Kansas City Royals. The Yankees also won, though, so the Jays’ slim lead in the American League East stays at two games. Toronto did win the series between the two teams, so if I’m doing my math right, their magic number is 4 — any combination of four Blue Jays wins and Yankees losses gives Toronto its first division title in a decade.

Here’s something fun: The Blue Jays play a three-game set against a desperate Red Sox team starting Tuesday.

That means that:

Pennant races make for wonderful scenarios.

Cleveland finally lost on Sunday — that snapped a 10-game winning streak — but the Tigers did not take advantage of the moment. They lost AGAIN, their ninth loss in 10 games, and while, no, I’m not a Tigers’ fan by birth, I feel toward them a bit like Iris Gaines in the Natural.

Roy: That day in Chicago, why did you stand up?

Iris: I didn’t want to see you fail.

I don’t want to see an exciting young team like the Tigers just collapse. But you can’t always get what you want, and right now, well, you can see the musical chairs here:

Four teams. Three spots. One team will be out when the music stops. The Tigers still have an 85% shot at finding a chair because they have both the division title and wildcard chances, but it will help if they actually win a game.

Well, the Mariners apparently got tired of the drama. They came into their series in Houston with the two teams tied for the division lead. The Mariners then kicked the daylights out of the Astros, swept the series in pretty breezy fashion, and their magic number is now three. Say goodnight.

The Mariners have now won 14 of 15, and let’s say this very quietly so not to awaken the Ghost of Mariners Past — they look like the best team in the American League.

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