The dictionary definition of 'wild card' is 'an unknown or unpredictable factor.' The New York Mets display extreme unpredictability from inning to inning and within individual innings. MLB awards Wild Card postseason berths to non-division leaders with the best records, not to teams that are capricious. The Mets currently sit about five games ahead of the Cincinnati Reds for the final playoff berth. The Reds have a difficult remaining schedule and recent poor form, making them unlikely to close the gap. Teams that traded at the deadline could leapfrog Cincinnati. Inconsistency and erratic performance make the Mets emotionally taxing to predict.
My whole life as a sports fan, I've seen teams seek "Wild Card" spots in playoffs and understood Wild Card to mean "not a division winner," without ever really stopping to think of the term's implication away from sports. To be certain I had it straight, I went to the dictionary (well, a dictionary site) so I could cite the definition of wild card accurately. It is "an unknown or unpredictable factor".
the New York Mets loom as the ideal wild card for the forthcoming postseason, because I can't think of another contender whose actions from one game to the next answer so precisely to their dictionary definition. You never know what the Mets will do in the course of nine innings - even when you acknowledge that you never know what any team will do in the course of nine innings - and you'd be courting frustration if you attempted to predict it.
The Mets aren't a lock, but even after losing the kind of game on Saturday it appeared they'd come back to win after appearing certain to lose, they appear to be in solid shape, five games up on the Reds for the final playoff berth. The Reds - who have three with us next weekend and a tough schedule in general - have been their own kind of meh lately and therefore haven't been able to close in on the Met brand of meh.
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