At a news conference Friday afternoon, hours before the Mets and the Pittsburgh Pirates were to begin a three-game series at Citi Field, Mets Manager Terry Collins was asked to characterize what was at stake. He made no effort to mask or minimize things.
“They’re sitting in a spot where they’re deeply entrenched in the wild card, so they’re somebody that every team that’s in the hunt has to hopefully catch up to, match record for record,” Collins said of the Pirates, one of the National League’s top teams. “I think this is a big weekend for us.