Mets need to figure it out with playoff destiny still in their hands

MILWAUKEE — The Mets were ticketed to play between two to four more regular-season games heading into Saturday night’s matchup here in what has to be one of the more unusual, and possibly unhappy, season endings ever.Their chances to make the playoffs look decent on paper (more on that below), but they have even more issues than games, no matter how many it turns out to be — whether it be two, three or four. 1.

The Mets played poorly the first couple games on their most momentous trip (but the combinations and permutations are still working somewhat favorably, believe it or not).Hard as it is to believe, they could clinch here but cannot be eliminated before they leave, thanks to holding the tiebreaker over the similarly struggling Diamondbacks. 2.

J.D.Martinez, a noted hitting savant, fell to 0-for-his-last-35 once his pop fly that popped out of Brewers second baseman Brice Turang’s glove was ruled an error Friday.

(Martinez was out of Saturday’s lineup). 3.Francisco Lindor looked like he’s hurting even while gathering two hits in his first full game in two weeks.

It’s uncomfortable bending over, so shortstop isn’t easy now. “The pain would come and go so I’m happy with that,” Lindor said after the Mets dropped game one here 8-4 to a Brewers team that looks better.(The Mets noticed, too, and Lindor was DH-ing Saturday.) 4.

They can’t stop Milwaukee’s running game.The Brewers swiped six bases Friday, not to mention adding bases on two wild pitches and a passed ball as the Mets rushed to quell baseball’s speediest team (Turang, Garrett Mitchell and Blake Perkins look like three-fourths of an Olympic sprint team.) 5.

Francisco Alvarez is in pain, too.He left with back spasms, so while he’s feeling “way better,” they replaced him in the lineup Saturday with Luis Torrens, who they picked up for pocket change from the Yankees ($100,000). 6.

Unless they can avoid the trip back to Atlanta by virtue of a combination of three M...