The Mets are in the midst of a best-of-three week, trying to fight their way into a best-of-three wild-card series, playing as close to the playoffs as possible in September so they can play seriously in October.

And they act like a team with determination and excellence in achieving the goal. A few hours before Saturday’s game, they learned that Jeff McNeil had suffered a minor wrist fracture and was out for the regular season.

Buck Showalter often said that the season isn’t stopped so you can work through your problems – no one will feel sorry for you. And his successor as Mets manager, Carlos Mendoza, noted how much McNeil’s revival of the offense helped in the second half, but also said, “Every team has injuries and the guys are going to have to keep giving it their all.”

That’s what Jose Iglesias did — on his first day as a regular second baseman. His arrival, along with Luis Torrens, in late May helped transform the Mets’ defense from a liability to an asset over the course of this season. As if to underscore that point, Iglesias and Francisco Lindor combined to execute double plays in the second and third innings that were balletic — baseball’s version of Magic Johnson or Jason Kidd orchestrating scenic fast breaks.

In particular, the first play, in which Iglesias dodged to the left to catch a grounder from Jonathan India and then turned to the right to feed Lindor, who mastered a rather flat throw over the base and then reached first base, was an artistic achievement.

“That sets the energy for the tone of the game,” Bader said of the two double kills.

Jose Quintana is a contact-oriented starter who needs impeccable handwork behind him, and he got it early in the scrum. It saved him runs and pitches so he could still be in the game in the seventh inning. It kept the Reds off the scoreboard long enough for the Mets to survive five one-hit shutout innings from Cincinnati opener Jakob Junis. The Mets scored four runs in the sixth inning en route to a 4-0 victory that gave them their first nine-game winning streak since April 2018.

The only other two times they’ve had a nine-game winning streak that included September games came twice in 1969, when they secured their first playoff berth and, eventually, the championship. Now, there’s an incredible sense of possibility growing at this club.

The Mets began this series four games behind Atlanta for the final NL wild card and with a 13.1 percent playoff chance (Fangraphs). They are now one game ahead of the Braves and just a half-game behind the Diamondbacks for the second wild card — and the wild card-leading Padres are still within reach.

“I hate looking at the scoreboard this early in the month, but at the end of the day, every game is going to matter in some way,” said Phil Maton, who has been to the playoffs three times in the last four seasons. “You don’t want to get into the last series of the year and think, ‘Man, if we could have won a game here or there, we’d be in a different spot.'”

The Mets aren’t going to win, but they’ve won enough now to “be in the playoffs in some ways (now),” said Francisco Lindor, who has 28 postseason games, the second-most of the current Mets, behind JD Martinez’s 33. “It’s not exactly the same vibe as in the playoffs, where you have that moment at the beginning to start over. But we’re in a position where every day, every game, every inning counts, and that’s playoff baseball.”

That’s why everything is so sensitive, from the loss of McNeil to looking at Kodai Senga (calf), who threw another bullpen on Saturday. He is eligible to return from the 60-day injured list on Sept. 25, right in the middle of a three-game series in Atlanta that feels like a collision course for this year and is steeped in the Mets’ torturous history against the Braves. The Mets hope Senga can serve as a three- or four-inning opener in the final days of the regular season and then perhaps in a playoff series.

But, as much as the Braves series looms, the Mets have work to do from here to there. Not long ago, the race for the NL wild card was a 500-point race. But contenders like the Reds have dropped out, and the firm belief that this season would be like the last, when two 84-win teams (Arizona, Miami) made the playoffs, has evaporated. It might take 90 wins to be even the third wild card.

“It’s kind of like four teams in a wild-card cluster,” Maton said. “It’s not all or nothing every night, but it’s going to be pretty close. Any advantage you can get down the stretch is pretty important. I hate to lock in a series, but obviously the Atlanta series (the second-to-last of the year) is coming up and it’s going to be a big series for us, and so it’s important that we go into that series with some momentum.”