New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso has his sights set on something a little bigger than just a National League Wild Card spot.
The New York Mets keep winning ball games, the latest being a 7-2 victory over the Miami Marlins on Wednesday. They’ve now won 12 out of their last 13 games (19-6 since the All-Star Break). New York additionally has emerged victorious in each of their last five series.
They’ve slowly but surely climbed the National League Wild Card standings, currently sitting 1.0 game out. While most have had their sights set on a Wild Card spot for the Mets, first baseman Pete Alonso has even bigger goals.
“We’ve got some really tough games ahead of us, but let’s say, we keep this up, and win all six or win five out of six, that’s going to put us not just in Wild Card talks, [but will give the Mets a] chance to win the division,” Alonso said, per Nick Wojton of SNY. “We’ve got a really awesome chance to do something really special and make a hell of a run towards the end. We’re just going to keep playing ball and see what happens.”
Despite the Mets playing great baseball as of late, New York has been going up against low-level ball clubs. Their last five series victories have come against the Padres, White Sox, Marlins, and two against the Pirates.
The next six games will be some of the biggest for the Mets all season. They have three at home against the Washington Nationals, who lead the NL Wild Card standings by 1.0 game. They then travel to Atlanta for a three-game series against the Braves. Atlanta currently leads the NL East division by 6.5 games over the second place-Nats.
With these talented ballclubs awaiting the Mets, Alonso understands that to be the best, you have to defeat the best.
“You gotta slay the giant, so to speak,” Alonso said. “You’ve got to go through these tough teams in order to get to the playoffs and when you get to the playoffs, it’s just going to be that much harder. We just need to keep grinding it out and I feel like if we keep playing the way we are, keep hitting well, our defense has been awesome, our pitching has been lights out… I think that’s going to be a really tough combo for our opponents to handle.”
New York’s series against the Nats will begin this Friday at 7:10 p.m. ET.
