With 13 games to go in the regular season, the Mets (84-65) hold a shrunken, but still sturdy, six-game lead over the Washington Nationals in the National League East. That would seem safe enough, except for one small problem: The Mets’ lead is, in some respects, just three games, not six.
And that’s because the Nationals (78-71), who also have 13 games to go, play the last three of those at Citi Field, on the first weekend in October. From their point of view, they do not have to wipe out the Mets’ six-game lead by the time they arrive in Flushing.