England will play 18 games in their 2020 home summer against four different opponents, the ECB confirmed on Wednesday.

The home summer begins later than usual, with the first of three Tests against West Indies starting at The Oval on June 4.

They will then play three T20Is and three ODIs against Australia, before a two-week window in which centrally contracted players will be made available to play in the early rounds of The Hundred. The new competition will begin on Friday, July 17, the day after the final ODI against Australia.

ALSO READ: The Hundred window in England's international schedule

Pakistan will then arrive for a tour comprising three Tests and three T20Is, before the summer ends with three ODIs against Ireland in September.

As reported by ESPNcricinfo, the later start to the summer will not necessarily mean that England's Test stars are available for the whole IPL season. There will be scant opportunities for their all-format players like Joe Root, Ben Stokes, and Jos Buttler to play first-class cricket between the West Indies Tests and the Pakistan series, and with central contracts set to become more lucrative, it is expected that the ECB will encourage them to play at least some early-season County Championship games.

There are more T20Is than in recent years, as England continue their preparations for the T20 World Cup in Australia in October-November 2020.

Edgbaston will continue to host Finals Day of the T20 Blast, which will remain the longest T20 competition in the world. Finals Day will take place on September 5, with the opening rounds likely to start at the end of May.

As expected, Lord's will no longer host the showpiece one-day final, with the 50-over competition's climax set for Trent Bridge.

The ECB has also hinted that the Finals Day format - in which at least one semi-final is held directly before the final - will be continued for The Hundred, though the date and exact format remain unconfirmed.

Tom Harrison, the ECB's chief executive, said, "The ICC World Test Championship will add significance and context to the Test Series against West Indies and Pakistan. Where every Test matters, there will be lots of points to play for as England continue their efforts to reach the inaugural World Test Championship final in June 2021.

"Alongside the red-ball matches, England's ODI contests against Australia, and Ireland will see the World Champions return to home soil with big crowds expected at all venues. With further interest in T20I cricket, the six matches against Australia and the world number one side Pakistan will offer a fascinating guide to form ahead of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup in Australia during the autumn of 2020."

Zakir Khan, the PCB's international cricket director, said, "A tour of England tests the skills and limits of the visiting sides and I anticipate this tour to help Pakistan furnish their red-ball skills and also prepare them for the all-important ICC T20 World Cup in Australia later in 2020."

Richard Holdsworth, performance director for Cricket Ireland, said, "We ran the World Cup champions close at Malahide this year in a hard-fought ODI, and expect that as this side further evolves, it will be highly competitive come September 2020 backed by some great travelling and UK-based Irish support. The recent Test match at Lord's demonstrated the interest in Irish cricket, and the series will be played across three iconic Test venues, so promises to be a great experience for all."

England Men's home international schedule, 2020

v West Indies

June 4-8 - First Test, The Oval
June 12-16 - Second Test, Edgbaston
June 25-29 - Third Test, Lord's

v Australia

July 3 - First T20I, Edgbaston
July 5 - Second T20I, Old Trafford
July 7 - Third T20I, Headingley
July 11 - First ODI, Lord's
July 14 - Second ODI, Ageas Bowl
July 16 - Third ODI, Bristol

v Pakistan

July 30 - First Test, Lord's
August 7 - Second Test, Old Trafford
August 20 - Third Test, Trent Bridge
August 29 - First T20I, Headingley
August 31 - Second T20I, Cardiff
September 2 - Third T20I, Ageas Bowl

v Ireland

September 10 - First ODI, Trent Bridge
September 12 - Second ODI, Edgbaston
September 15 - Third ODI, The Oval

Domestic Finals

September 5 - T20 Blast Finals Day, Edgbaston
September 19 - One Day Cup final, Trent Bridge
tbc - The Hundred Finals Day

Gennady Golovkin and Sergiy Derevyanchenko agreed to terms on Tuesday to meet for a vacant middleweight world title on Oct. 5 at Madison Square Garden in New York, multiple sources told ESPN.

The sides had been locked for three weeks in an acrimonious negotiation before overcoming the issues and agreeing on all points.

The paperwork is with both sides, and according to the sources, as long as that paperwork reflects what was agreed to, the contracts are expected to be signed on Wednesday, with a news conference scheduled to take place to formally announce the bout on Thursday at Madison Square Garden.

Running the news conference and the front man for the event will be a new member of Team GGG: Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn, whose company has close ties to DAZN, which will stream the fight, and helped get the deal done.

Derevyanchenko and Golovkin will be fighting for the IBF 160-pound world title stripped from Canelo Alvarez on Aug. 1, when he failed to finalize a deal to face Derevyanchenko, the mandatory challenger. That left Derevyanchenko to face the next leading contender in the IBF's rankings, which was Golovkin, who used to hold that belt.

The IBF gave the sides until Sept. 4 to make a deal, or it would order a purse bid, but they needed to get the deal done before that to have the fight on Oct. 5, the date DAZN wanted it and a date that Madison Square Garden was available.

Golovkin preferred to face Alvarez for a third time following a controversial draw in September 2017 and a majority decision loss in September 2018 that cost him his unified title but will instead face Derevyanchenko because Alvarez refused to face Golovkin. There was heavy pressure from DAZN, which has Alvarez and Golovkin under exclusive contract, for Alvarez to fight GGG this fall, but when he refused, DAZN reluctantly approved Derevyanchenko as Golovkin's fall opponent.

Derevyanchenko (13-1, 10 KOs), 33, of Ukraine, lost a vacant IBF world title fight to Daniel Jacobs in October. Jacobs went on to lose the belt to Alvarez in May, and Derevyanchenko earned another mandatory shot at it when he rebounded from the loss to Jacobs to outpoint Jack Culcay in a world title eliminator on April 13.

Golovkin (39-1-1, 35 KOs), 37, a Kazakhstan native fighting out of Santa Monica, California, tied Bernard Hopkins for the record for consecutive middleweight title defenses at 20 before the close loss to Alvarez. Next he will look to begin a second title reign against Derevyanchenko following a brutal negotiation.

The camps had agreed on the financial terms of the bout nearly two weeks ago, as well as random drug testing to be handled by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (though that will get a late start due to the protracted negotiations), but the fight was held up while they argued over secondary elements of the deal such as how many hotel rooms Derevyanchenko's team would receive, his allotment of tickets and the parameters of fines associated with either man missing the 160-pound weight limit or the IBF's weight check on the morning of the bout.

FRISCO, Texas -- It wasn't a contract extension for Dak Prescott or Ezekiel Elliott or Amari Cooper, but Jaylon Smith's seven-year deal with the Dallas Cowboys that was signed Tuesday allowed owner and general manager Jerry Jones to feel happy.

"Y'all have been badgering my ass to get a contract done for the last three weeks. This is a contract story," Jones said. "And this is a contract story that is not just this year or not just next year, this has it all. It has overcoming. It has talent. It has rewarding an ambition. Or it just has the beginning of what ambition will get you in the future. That's the biggest, most exciting thing about this."

When the Cowboys took Smith in the second round of the 2016 NFL draft, they did not know if he would be able to come close to the level of player he was while at Notre Dame before suffering a significant knee injury that included nerve damage. Fourteen months into his time with the Cowboys, Smith could not lift his right foot without the aid of an orthosis.

After missing his rookie season, Smith has played in 32 straight games with 22 starts and signed a five-year extension that is worth $64 million and includes $35.5 million guaranteed, according to Cowboys executive Stephen Jones.

"You took a risk, a $4.5 million risk, had I never been able to play again," Smith told the Joneses, who were sitting next to the linebacker at the news conference. "So me understanding that, it was my duty for them to get the return on their investment. They've been able to do that. And now I'm fortunate enough to really be a Cowboy for life, [which] is what I want. I'm thankful to be here, for sure."

Smith also shared his thoughts on his long journey back from injury on social media on Tuesday.

3 and a half years ago on Jan 1st, 2016,
Tears in my eyes,
My life changed forever.
I embraced each moment.
I had a focused vision, determined belief and now I have earned one of my dreams!  #ClearEyeView | #DallasCowboys pic.twitter.com/xqNDGFNSFS

— Jaylon Smith (@thejaylonsmith) August 20, 2019

Almost immediately, however, the question became: When will the Cowboys sign their three Pro Bowl offensive stars?

Stephen Jones said the talks with the agents for Prescott, Elliott and Cooper have increased more than what they had while in Oxnard, California, for the first portion of training camp. He is "very optimistic" deals can be worked out for all three.

"It just takes getting in the ballpark, then usually these things roll," Stephen Jones said.

The Cowboys have made offers to Prescott, Elliott and Cooper that would rank in the top five in terms of average per year at their positions. Stephen Jones said the talks with Smith took a week and a half to finish and believes it would not take long to get the others signed if they had earnest discussions.

Smith's deal does not directly impact how much the Cowboys can pay Prescott, Elliott and Cooper, but, Jerry Jones said, "There's less pie, make no bones about it."

"I wouldn't say (plenty of pie is left)," Stephen Jones added. "We've obviously got a feel, and we still do want to get Amari and Zeke and Dak signed. That's still huge for us. Very optimistic. I know they're no different than Jaylon. They want to be here. They want to be Cowboys. I still stand by we want to get them contracts that they're having their happy moment like (Smith) and it's still good for the team."

From the start of training camp, if not earlier, the Cowboys have been consistent in preaching they want to do deals that allow them to keep their core players together for the long term.

"The team takes precedent at a point over the opinion or the demand of the individual," said Jones, who turns 78 in October. "The team takes precedent. This was a team move that we are talking about today. A real team move. The team takes precedent. And I've got the backbone to keep it that way."

After the Cowboys' preseason win against the Los Angeles Rams in Honolulu in which rookie running back Tony Pollard had 51 total yards and a touchdown, Jones joked, "Zeke, who?" Elliott's agent, Rocky Arceneaux, told ESPN's Chris Mortensen that he and his client found the joke "disrespectful."

Jones has not talked to Elliott since the joke, but added, "Look, I've earned the right with Zeke to joke. Period. I've earned it."

The Cowboys believe Smith earned this extension. In the past two seasons, he has been credited by the coaches with 249 tackles. Last season, he was second on the team in tackles to go along with four sacks, five tackles for loss, 13 quarterback pressures, four pass breakups, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries.

"He has never complained," Jerry Jones said. "He has never wavered, never missed a workout, and he's never quit. Not one time. He is admired by his teammates. He is admired by the people he competes against. His story is one that I would have done anything to be sure that it could be a Dallas Cowboys story."

LOS ANGELES -- The gravity of all this will hit Clayton Kershaw at some point, perhaps on a day long removed from this one. On Tuesday, the Los Angeles Dodgers' longtime ace earned his 166th career victory, moving him past the Dodgers' ultimate ace, Sandy Koufax, the man Kershaw has so often been compared to.

Kershaw was respectful of the milestone but also quick to move past it, as is his custom.

"It's just hard for me to take big-picture perspectives on things," he said. "Someday, I hope to do that."

Kershaw is now the fifth-winningest pitcher in franchise history, trailing only Don Sutton, Don Drysdale, Dazzy Vance and Brickyard Kennedy, greats from other times. Among those in the expansion era, which began in 1961, Kershaw sits in a four-way tie for 25th place in wins for pitchers through their first 12 seasons. With three more W's, an attainable number given the health and success of his 2019 campaign, he will settle into the top 20.

But Koufax, who dominated the first half of the 1960s before arm injuries forced him to retire at age 30, is the enduring link.

"It's an honor for me just to be mentioned in the same sentence as Sandy," Kershaw said after the team's 16-3 win over the Toronto Blue Jays. "What he was able to accomplish in his career -- he would've gone a lot longer if he was playing today, probably, because he could've gotten healthy. Just a special thing, man."

Kershaw was at his best as he prepared to face the lowly Jays for the start of a six-game homestand, posting a 1.40 ERA with 59 strikeouts and 13 walks over his previous 45 innings. Then he got hit around. Bo Bichette took him deep twice, first on a 90 mph fastball to open the game and then on a flat slider to open the sixth. Derek Fisher also homered to lead off the third. But Kershaw navigated through trouble, just as he has so often this season.

"That's something that all great ones have -- the ability to limit damage," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "It's that short-term memory, where when something does happen or you're in a big spot to still have that ability to focus on executing your pitch."

Kershaw gave up three solo home runs but nothing more on the scoreboard. He allowed three other hits and issued three walks but was able to complete six innings for the 22nd time in 22 starts this season. He improved to 13-2 and put his ERA at 2.71, fifth lowest in the majors despite continuing to rely more heavily on breaking balls than ever before.

The slider -- a pitch opponents slugged just .194 against over his past seven starts -- continued to feature the depth that is necessary to differentiate it from Kershaw's fastball, forcing hitters to go 1-for-10 in at-bats that finished with it on Tuesday.

Kershaw dismissed all that. He felt he often got "bailed out," citing the double play that Randal Grichuk lined into in the fourth. The lefty would've asked to come out for the seventh, with his pitch count only at 89, but said, "I didn't earn it."

Earlier, Roberts said it's "certainly fair" to compare Kershaw to Koufax, who went 97-27 with a 1.86 ERA from 1963 to 1966 (and put up a 0.95 ERA in 57 career postseason innings).

Kershaw will think about that another day.

"Being given an opportunity to get to do some of this stuff is really special, and I try not to lose sight of that," Kershaw said. "But I think somewhere in my brain I can't [fully appreciate the moment] and continue to be successful every fifth day, because you think you're better than you are, you know? So you just gotta keep going.

"Maybe someday I'll look back on it and think it's pretty awesome."

Ty Lue has agreed to a deal with the LA Clippers to become a top assistant coach on Doc Rivers' staff, a source told ESPN's Dave McMenamin.

Lue was a leading candidate to become the Los Angeles Lakers head coach until negotiations broke down earlier this summer. Lue wanted to coach LeBron James again -- the pair helped produce an NBA championship in Cleveland in 2016 -- but the coach and the Lakers could not agree on contract terms before the team ultimately decided to hire Frank Vogel.

Lue was fired as Cleveland's head coach six games into the 2018-19 season despite guiding the Cavaliers to three consecutive NBA Finals appearances. He had a 128-83 record in three-plus seasons in Cleveland.

Rivers has remained close with Lue, who was an assistant on Rivers' staff in Boston for two seasons (2011-13) and then with the Clippers for one (2013-14).

The Athletic was first to report the deal.

ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk and Dave McMenamin contributed to this report.

The Houston Astros are placing shortstop Carlos Correa and right-hander Aaron Sanchez on the 10-day injured list Wednesday, manager AJ Hinch said after Tuesday night's 6-3 win over the Detroit Tigers.

Correa was out of the lineup Tuesday after leaving Monday night's game after the first inning with back discomfort. It will be the second stint on the IL this season for Correa, who missed two months earlier this season after his rib was fractured during a massage.

He's hitting .278 with 19 home runs and 56 RBIs in 72 games.

Sanchez started for Houston on Tuesday but lasted just 2⅓ innings. He allowed three runs on four hits, walking two and striking out one. The team didn't say he was injured during the game, but Hinch said afterward that Sanchez had been dealing with a sore pectoral muscle for some time.

"He didn't look like himself, and the reason I took him out was I saw a little decline in [velocity],'' Hinch said. "He started going to his breaking ball all the time. We want him to throw more breaking balls, but it looked like he was just trying to spin the ball in there.''

Sanchez said he has been experiencing soreness in his pectoral muscle for six or seven starts and that he'd been trying to work through it.

"It's kind of been up and down, and obviously today, when my [velocity] drops the way it did, there's no sense in trying to push through it,'' he said. "Especially knowing where this team is going, and I want to be a part of that down the stretch. So the best bet is just to figure out what's going on and work from there.''

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Washington Nationals reliever Hunter Strickland injured his face in a weightlifting accident before the game Tuesday at PNC Park, manager Dave Martinez said.

Details of Strickland's injury were not available, but Martinez said after the Nats' 4-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates that Strickland had been cleared to pitch Tuesday and is likely to avoid the injured list.

Strickland, 30, was working out in the weight room at PNC Park when a barbell struck him in the face. He was seen in the clubhouse before Tuesday's game with a bandaged nose and was sent for X-rays, according to reports.

The Nationals didn't release results of the exam, but Strickland posted about the incident on Instagram on Tuesday.

View this post on Instagram

Broke nose never killed anyone. We have a playoff push so let's keep it going @nationals This team is special! *side note: barbell=1 me=0

A post shared by Hunter Strickland (@hunterstrickland43) on Aug 20, 2019 at 3:29pm PDT

Strickland, who was acquired by the Nationals from the Seattle Mariners on July 31, is 1-0 with a 1.29 ERA in eight appearances for Washington this season.

Pitching great Roger Clemens didn't shy away from many battles in his major league career, but politics is something he's not willing to take on.

Clemens had been encouraged to run as a Republican candidate for the seat of Texas Republican Rep. Pete Olson, who announced his retirement last month.

The 57-year-old Clemens said he was honored but had "no interest" in running for office.

"The climate in politics at this time is much more than I would want to undertake, along with my family considerations," Clemens said in a message to Olson that was obtained by ABC News.

"I am a Republican and I support our President and will continue to do so," Clemens said. "No matter who our President may be, I will continue my support of them and root for them to be successful, just as I did when President Obama was in office.

"I will ... do all I can to continue to promote the quality of life issues that we respect and try to maintain as citizens of the State of Texas and the United States."

The seven-time Cy Young winner and 1986 American League MVP has been based in Texas since he pitched for the Longhorns, leading them to the College World Series championship in 1983.

He went on to a 24-year, record-setting major league career with the Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays, New York Yankees and Houston Astros, recording 354 wins and more than 4,500 strikeouts.

Despite those achievements, he has not been named to the Baseball Hall of Fame because of allegations that he used steroids during his career. Clemens denied those allegations in testimony before Congress in 2008, then was charged with perjury. He was found not guilty of that charge.

Clemens currently serves as a special assistant to the general manager of the Astros.

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic -- Authorities in the Dominican Republic have arrested former MLB pitcher Octavio Dotel and and cited ex-infielder Luis Castillo for their alleged links to a drug-trafficking and money-laundering ring, officials said Tuesday.

Dominican Attorney General Jean Alain Rodriguez said police are also actively pursuing the alleged leader of the ring, Cesar Emilio Peralta, also known as "Cesar the Abuser.'' Castillo -- not the current Cincinnati Reds' pitcher -- has not yet been arrested.

"Eighteen other people are linked to this network, including athletes and baseball players Octavio Dotel and Luis Castillo,'' Rodriguez said in a news conference, calling it "the most important drug-trafficking structure in the region.''

He said Peralta created a complicated system of companies to hide the origins of his assets, using members of his family and social circles, "including two sports figures in the Dominican Republic.''

Rodriguez said the U.S. government and police agencies participated in the investigation.

Dominican officials say a 1,050-kilogram shipment of drugs heading from South America to Puerto Rico was one of several seizures attributed to this ring.

On his Instagram account, Castillo denied any ties to drugs.

"The truth is my country no longer works, my God, do you think that after making millions of dollars in Baseball I am going to dirty my hands with drugs?'' the former player wrote.

Castillo was a three-time All-Star, won three Gold Gloves and was a member of the 2003 Florida Marlins team that won the World Series.

There was no immediate comment from Dotel, who set a record at the time for playing on more MLB teams than any other player. The teams were: the Detroit Tigers, St. Louis Cardinals, Toronto Blue Jays, Colorado Rockies, Los Angeles Dodgers, Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago White Sox, Atlanta Braves, Kansas City Royals, New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics, Houston Astros and New York Mets.

NEW YORK -- Yes, America, Pete Alonso has a supporting cast.

With much of the national attention on the New York Mets focused on the rookie bomber's soaring home run total -- or, even just a few weeks ago, on the latest calamities and dysfunction in an organization that has tripped over itself so many times in recent seasons -- it's easy to forget that Alonso has help in the lineup and that the rotation is deeper than just Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard.

Tuesday's 9-2 win over the Indians kicked off the Mets' most important homestand since 2016 -- nine games against the Indians, Braves and Cubs -- in positive fashion. They beat a Cy Young contender in Shane Bieber, J.D. Davis and Michael Conforto continued their hot hitting with two-run home runs, and Steven Matz had another quality start, his fourth in his past five outings.

"To beat Shane Bieber in the first game to start off this homestand, to energize the fans, to put ourselves in good position to win a series against these guys is what we set out to do today," Conforto said. "We know we have a tough stretch ahead of us, but we take it day by day and try to win each day, so it was a good team win all-around."

When the Mets won 15 out of 16 at the end of July through early August, they did it against a soft spot in the schedule -- two series against the stumbling Pirates, White Sox and Marlins. Their next eight series -- taking the team into the final two weeks of the regular season -- are against teams that began the day .500 or better.

The Mets know this homestand is the biggest test of the season and maybe even a do-or-die nine games for a team that has climbed from the second-worst record in the National League at 46-55 and eight games out of the wild card on July 24 to 65-60 and two games out of the second wild-card spot.

"I think we all knew that even though it's August, the playoffs started today," Davis said. "We have to have that playoff mentality, that playoff atmosphere, that every game counts, especially with the hole we dug ourselves into. I think the elephant in the room is that we have a lot of home games but a lot of games against playoff teams."

It's all those home games that give Mets fans hope that perhaps this can turn into another miracle season -- like the one that happened 50 years ago, when the Mets were 10 games out on Aug. 13 and won the World Series, or the "Ya Gotta Believe" club of 1973 that was 11.5 out on Aug. 5 and won the NL pennant. Heck, given those parameters, don't rule out an NL East title in 2019.

In beating Cleveland, the Mets improved to 35-21 at home compared to 30-39 on the road, but as Davis alluded to, that means 25 of their final 37 games are at Citi Field.

Davis is one reason the Mets have played so much better at home. He's hitting .390/.454/.732 at Citi Field and .258/.316/.376 on the road. Lately, however, he has been hitting everywhere. Since the All-Star break, he leads all NL hitters with at least 100 plate appearances in batting average (.380) and OPS (1.069). Amed Rosario isn't far behind, ranking second in batting average (.371) and in the top 25 in OPS. Conforto, meanwhile, has hit .290 in 33 games with 11 home runs and 31 RBIs.

Davis' production has been huge, especially in the absence of All-Star Jeff McNeil, who has been out for a week with a hamstring injury, and Brandon Nimmo, who has been out since mid-May with a disc issue in his neck. (Nimmo played center field for Triple-A Syracuse on Tuesday, his third rehab game, so he could be back soon.) The Mets acquired Davis from the Astros on Jan. 6 in hopes that he could provide a bat off the bench and fill in a little at third base or first base. Ten days later, however, the club signed Jed Lowrie, and Davis wasn't even assured a spot on the roster. Lowrie's injury in spring training opened a roster slot, and Davis began the season platooning against left-handers, but the various injuries have led to regular playing time for him for the first time in the majors.

Against Bieber, he came up in the bottom of the second with Cleveland up 1-0 and crushed an 0-1 slider into the black hitting background in center field, a 109.9 mph rocket that traveled 447 feet.

"The scouting report was to attack him early," Davis said. "He threw strikes early in the count, and in that at-bat, I was aggressive with the 0-0 fastball. Then he went to the off-speed pitch, and we got him. I think that was his first time out of the stretch, and he left one over the plate."

That was one of the few mistakes Bieber made, as catcher Roberto Perez set up outside, but the All-Star righty hung the pitch. Conforto's home run came in the sixth inning with two outs and the game tied 2-2. He shouldn't have been batting in the first place, as Indians left fielder Oscar Mercado had dropped Joe Panik's routine pop fly in shallow left field. The Mets took advantage of the extra out, and Conforto golfed a low slider 388 feet to right-center.

Yeah, that felt good. "Especially in that situation against a good starter who got me a couple times earlier in the game," Conforto said. He just missed a home run with a long foul ball earlier in the at-bat. "I felt like a pretty good swing on that fastball. I was actually on time on that fastball, so I felt more comfortable that at-bat after seeing him twice and the action on his pitches."

The defensive miscue is the kind of mistake good teams use to win games.

"We've had a feeling over this run that we've been on that we might not get them the first time through the order," Conforto said, "but our lineup has been so good, our hitters have been able to figure out ways to get on base, figure out ways to get runs in. We just feel that regardless of who is pitching, we're going to put a lot of runs on the board. Any time the defense gives us an opportunity like that, we have to take advantage of it, so that was huge."

Indeed, while going 19-5 since July 25, the Mets are hitting .283/.351/.481 and averaging 5.75 runs per game. The pitching has also been terrific, with a 3.24 ERA -- best in the majors in that span. Matz allowed just one earned run -- a Jason Kipnis home run -- in 6⅓ innings, and six of his seven strikeouts were looking. He's 3-1 with a 2.56 ERA in his past five starts, with a 30-6 strikeout-walk ratio and just one home run allowed.

The two biggest strikeouts of the game, however, came from Justin Wilson, who relieved Matz in the seventh with two on, one out and a 4-2 lead and fanned Francisco Lindor on three cutters and Mercado on a 1-2 swinging slider.

The offense is swinging some big bats, the rotation is on a roll, the bullpen has settled down a bit, and McNeil and Nimmo will eventually return. A month ago, the Mets were a joke. Now it's no joke that they're in playoff contention.

As the Mets fans who started doing the wave late in Tuesday's game would attest, ya just gotta believe.