The Mets are closing in on a postseason berth behind a 9-run inning

NEW YORK — Standing on the Citi Field turf after another banner victory, Brandon Nimmo looked out into the crowd, tilted his head toward a microphone and urged fans to come to the ballpark this weekend. He tells them to be rowdy, to be loud. The Mets had just completed a 10-0 win and a series sweep of the Nationals, allowing them to maintain a two-game lead over the Braves in the National League wild card race.

New York is tied with Arizona — but holds the tiebreaker over the D-backs for the second wild card spot.

October baseball is in clear view for a Mets team that has saved some of its best work for mid-September. They know it. They feel it. They want as much support as possible for their final push.

“I'm pretty sure now, we're not in the regular season anymore,” Nimmo said. “We're in playoff baseball. Every win is very important. It decides whether we play or not.”

If the Mets keep performing like this, they'll keep playing — plain and simple. A little more than 23 minutes had passed since DJ Herz threw out the first pitch of the fourth inning on Wednesday when a large crowd rose in reverence. As far as statements go, it wasn't a long one. But it was vaguely clear.

The Mets, who long ago emerged from their coffins to establish themselves as legitimate NL wild card contenders, showed with a nine-run fourth inning that they are capable of more than a mere playoff berth. They are a fireball that gets hotter at the right time. In that 23-minute span, New York sent a dozen men to the plate, had seven hits and scored nine times in its most explosive half-inning of the season. In the dugout, the Mets waved their “OMG” sign into overtime.

Nimmo, who started the fourth-inning rally with a leadoff walk, also delivered the most dramatic blow with a three-run homer to cap the scoring. In between, Tyrone Taylor hit an RBI double, Mark Vientos and Starling Marte each hit two runs, and Luisangel Acuna drove in a run for the second straight night.

It was an outstanding amount of support for Jose Quintana, who threw seven shutout innings to extend his scoreless streak to 22 2/3 and improve his ERA to 0.28 over his past five starts.

“I'm really proud of this team,” Quintana said.

How could he not be? For the better part of four months, most everything went right for the Mets. Before Wednesday's game, owner Steve Cohen stood on the field watching batting practice, proud of what his team had accomplished. Cohen, who is taking a step back from the day-to-day business operations of his hedge fund, plans to travel to Atlanta and Milwaukee next week for their high-impact games with the Mets. He wants to be present when his team clinches a playoff berth.

As recently as June, that seemed like a long shot for a group that started the year 0-5 — and nearly lost its sixth game — then was 11 games under .500 in late May. But Cohen always believed in the talent of this roster. So did manager Carlos Mendoza, who late in the spring urged his players to “trust the process” and “find a way to get better.”

“And they did it. I'm proud of them,” Mendoza said Wednesday afternoon. “But look, we didn't do anything. Yeah, it's a good feeling when you come to the ballpark this time of year and you're playing for something special. But we didn't do anything. .”

In fact, despite their catbird perch, New York has yet to clinch a playoff spot. The club's best player, Francisco Lindor, is sidelined with a lower-back injury, and the Mets don't know if he'll be available for the start of their season-defining gauntlet: an upcoming 10-game stretch where two first-place teams — and — dictate the dramatic piano chords. Do — an Atlanta club that has long plagued them. Now any sleep mates can cost a lot more.

That stretch begins Thursday against the Phillies in the first of four remaining home games at Citi Field. It's technically possible that this could be Queens' final four baseball games of the season.

“I'm not ready to call this our last homestand,” Mendoza said. “I don't think anyone is ready to call it that.”