With Mets' recent struggles and pitching questions, Nationals have chance to catch NL East leaders

The Nationals start the week six games behind the Mets in the National League East with 13 games to play. The Mets' magic number is eight, which means the race ends with any combination of Mets wins and Nationals losses totaling eight.

Mathematically, the Nationals' chances are slim. But the Mets aren't the same team that swept the Nationals in D.C. earlier this month, so that helps the Nationals.

"We're playing perfect right now,'' Nationals third baseman Yunel Escobar said after going 4-for-4 Sunday against the Marlins.

The same is not true for the Mets. Manager Terry Collins is trying to nail down a division championship with a fan base that is nervous and thinking back to 2007, when the Mets blew a seven-game lead with 17 to play.

The Mets had a lead of 9 1/2 games a week ago. The Mets still have a lead, but when do they start playing with panic? They might already be there.

Collins should be relaxed, but he and the team are distracted with Matt Harvey's innings limits, resting young starters and trying to keep an on-again, off-again bullpen from leaking in the final two weeks. Welcome to baseball in 2015.

The schedule is in the Mets' favor. Their next three series are against the Braves at home and the Reds and Phillies on the road before returning to New York for the final series of the season against the Nationals.

Harvey, the Mets' ace who is coming back from Tommy John surgery, threw 77 pitches in five shutout innings Sunday night against the Yankees, but the Yankees came back and pounded the Mets bullpen in an 11-2 win.

It's not the way a first-place team is expected to put the finishing touches on a title.

What's next for Harvey? He's thrown 176 2/3 innings. The Mets are trying to keep him around 180 innings and Collins said that Harvey might have two more starts left. If they are abbreviated starts, does that do any good for the Mets?

But the Mets rotation has other issues: Rookie Noah Syndergaard, working into September for the first time, has a career-high in innings for a season. He's throwing in the high 90s, but he's been hittable because his pitches don't have the same movement. Jacob deGrom is not pitching Tuesday because the Mets want to give him more time between starts. Logan Verrett, a reliever, will take his place.

Jonathan Niese is struggling to get through six innings. Bartolo Colon, 42, and rookie Steven Matz, with a handful of big league starts, are their most consistent pitchers.

And, how about the Mets bullpen? The Mets are worried that Tyler Clippard is slumping at the wrong time.

Has there ever been a contending team with so many pitching issues going into the final two weeks? Well, yes, there has. Just look around.

It's a theme for this year.

Masahiro Tanaka will miss his Wednesday start because of a hamstring injury. Ivan Nova, bumped earlier from the rotation because of bad pitching, will replace him. That leaves Nova, Adam Warren and Luis Severino to pitch in this week's defining series against the Blue Jays.

How about St. Louis? John Lackey has been the Cardinals' most consistent starter, but Lance Lynn has 11 walks in three September starts. Carlos Martinez is at 179 1/3 innings this season after throwing 79 1/3 last season. Jamie Garcia has had two tough starts and Michael Wacha has been shaky, although he pitched well in his last start.

Don't forget the Astros. They've led the American League West a good chunk of the season, but in September, their bullpen, one of the strongest in the league, has been dealing with fatigue, walks and an ERA of better than 6.00. They could lose a division title as well as a wild card berth.

Kansas City is having issues, too. Royals manager Ned Yost has two weeks to figure out his postseason rotation and what he's going to do with slumping closer Greg Holland.

Starter Johnny Cueto hasn't pitched well, so does Yost use Yordano Ventura, Danny Duffy or Edinson Volquez ahead of Cueto in the postseason? And, with Holland's struggles, this would be a strange time for the Royals to reconfigure their bullpen.

For now, the best rotations among contenders are the Dodgers, Rangers, Blue Jays and Nationals. It's easy to see a run of nine wins in 10 games because of the Nationals rotation.

And it might be enough to catch the Mets.