The overlooked reason inspiring Mets wins have been hard to come by

You can fault the shaky starting pitching. You can criticize the thin bullpen. You can get on general manager David Stearns’ uneven year and manager Carlos Mendoza’s shaky late-game moves.

All are fair game. All are warranted. But the reason wins like Tuesday night’s in Chicago have happened all too rarely in recent months, the reason nobody could have forecast, and one that will linger into the offseason, is the Mets’ core.

This, after all, was supposed to be this team’s strength, Juan Soto joining Francisco Lindor, Pete Alonso, Brandon Nimmo and Jeff McNeil to form one of the best lineups in the sport. A quintet of established veterans that could carry the Mets into the postseason and beyond.

Instead, they have been inconsistent. Their overall numbers look pretty good. But they feel empty. And while last night’s come-from behind win over the Cubs — coupled with the Reds’ loss to the Pirates — moved the Mets back into the final NL wild-card spot, it can’t hide the fact that the club is in desperation mode this week because it has been one of the worst teams in baseball over the last three-plus months. Though the pitching has not performed, the offense has struggled with consistency, too. Just look at the last two games of the recent Nationals series, the Mets managing just five runs against one of the worst pitching staffs in the game.