Here we go!
Citi Field
With the unofficial first half of the season in the books, the Mets have won 25 of their last 36 games, and, at this moment, hold the final Wild Card berth, which is a long way from the pre-Grimace era, when the Mets sat ten games under .500 at the end of May, and were still scuffling when Grimace threw out the first pitch on June 12. (Since Grimace's first pitch, the Mets have been the best team in the National League, leading in winning percentage, runs per game, home runs, slugging and on-base percentage.)
So in just a few weeks, the Mets went from looking like big-time sellers for the second straight year to being fairly strong buyers ahead of the July 30 trade deadline. As the Phillies have recently demonstrated, it's not about finishing first in your division, it's about getting into the playoffs, and the Mets (as of July 14) have a roughly 51% chance of getting there, according to Baseball Reference's playoff odds. After a couple years of stockpiling prospects, the Mets have reached a point where they have some decent depth in the minors, and should have the capital to make a deal or two to address one of their biggest weaknesses, the bullpen, which has been hampered by injuries and poor performance.
In addition to prospects, the Mets also have several players who are in their walk years, including Jose Quintana, Luis Severino, J.D. Martinez, Harrison Bader, Adam Ottavino and Adrian Houser (and two maybes in Sean Manaea, who has a player option for 2025, and Brooks Raley, who can elect to become a free agent per a clause in his contract), and there's the biggest walk year player on the roster in Pete Alonso. Much of the conversation in the offseason was whether he would agree to an extension with the Mets, but after a while it became clear to the organization that Alonso wanted to test the free agent waters. The Mets are likely considering whether to trade him to at least get some value, and possibly try to re-sign him in the offseason, or they can stay the course, let him hit the FA market and hope he comes back, much like Edwin Diaz and Brandon Nimmo. In the latter case, the Mets are left with nothing if he signs elsewhere.
Given the talent in the minors and the majors, and the strength of the remaining schedule, which, for the Mets, is one of the easiest in the NL, there's a strong case to be made that the Mets are very much in the Wild Card race, and if they can make the right moves at the trading deadline - a mere 15 days away! - this team could very well make it into the postseason, and it's anyone's guess what happens after that.
It should be very interesting to see what transpires between now and the trade deadline, and then to wait and see if the Mets can actually pull a playoff appearance out of their bag of tricks. Once the All Star festivities end and everyone returns to regular season play, it'll be time for Mets fans everywhere to take a deep breath, exhale, say, "Here we go!" and proceed to watch the rest of the season while peering through their fingers.