BOSTON — If one game ever represented the symbolic knockout punch, it might have been this one.
With each passing day, the Mets' postseason chances have become slimmer. They are mathematically alive, but everyone seemingly understands the cruel reality.
This season is all but over.
And on Wednesday, during a lengthy battering at Fenway Park, that point stood out even more.
The Red Sox blew out the Mets, 12-5, and swept the two-game series here. The Mets have lost seven of their last eight games.
Depending on how first-place Atlanta performs, the Mets, at 73-79, can be eliminated from postseason contention as soon as Friday, when they open a series against the Brewers in Milwaukee. The Mets are now 7 1/2 games back of the Braves — pending the Braves-Diamondbacks result — with 10 games remaining.
Even a week ago, the Mets had hope. They were playing the Cardinals, who were fighting for the NL's second wild card spot. Plus, the Braves had not run away with the division.
It now might be generous to call the Mets' playoff hopes "bleak."
This club is all but dead, even if its official funeral won't occur for at least another couple days.
The Mets on Tuesday were blown out and outclassed by a superior opponent, the latest sign they were not good enough to compete with the best this season. They were never in this game.
The Red Sox, who tagged Mets starter Taijuan Walker for six runs over two innings, scored in each of the first six innings. They led by nine runs three innings into the game after putting together three multi-run innings to begin the night.
Kyle Schwarber, whom Boston acquired from the Nationals, continued to torment the Mets, hitting two more homers against them. He has nine home runs in 10 games against the Mets this season, and hit those in 36 at-bats. The latest two came off Taijuan Walker in his first two plate appearances of this game.
Trevor Williams entered for Walker to begin the bottom of the third, but wore it over the next four innings. He allowed six runs — four earned — as Boston extended its lead.
The Mets suffered throughout this game.
Four of Boston's six hits off Walker left the bat at more than 100 mph, according to Baseball Savant. In the third inning, José Iglesias hit a triple that went off Kevin Pillar's glove, but it became a Little League homer when Javier Báez fired an errant relay throw to third baseman Jonathan Villar. And in the top of the seventh, when Pete Alonso launched his 35th home run of the season, he and others didn't celebrate much because the blast, which made this an eight-run game, meant little for the outcome.
At this point, the Mets find themselves in one of sports' saddest spots: They aren't playing for anything but pride.
