Buckle up, Mets fans: Daniel Vogelbach trade the start of a fast-paced race to finish line

Baseball is a slow sport — a spring training that starts in the winter, played by boys of summer striving for a shot at October. So when Buck Showalter was asked last month if he was worried about an Atlanta winning streak that eventually spanned 14 games, he all but chuckled.

This season was never going to be easy, he said. And June is no time to be looking at the standings.

But late July might be. And August? August definitely is.

“You realize that what seems like an infinite number of games is not infinite anymore,” Showalter said Friday. “There’s a finish line that’s starting to appear in the distance . . . What’s happened in the past, it doesn’t really matter. Now, here it is. Here’s the plot in front of you.”

That “plot in front of you”? It’s getting mighty interesting.

Science says that heating molecules make them go faster, and it turns out that’s true for baseball seasons, too: The heating up of the weather, along with the mentally and physically grueling weeks ahead, are going to provide a pivotal test for a franchise that’s no stranger to late-season swoons.

The Mets began their second “half” Friday — half in quotation marks because there are only 69 games left — with a bang. General manager Billy Eppler made his first trade ahead of the Aug. 2 deadline, dealing Colin Holderman to the Pirates for Daniel Vogelbach, a lefthanded-hitting DH.

It was a surprise, but also points to the aggressiveness Eppler is bringing to this trade deadline for the Mets, who came into the day with just a 2½-game lead over Atlanta. The franchise was high on Holderman, and Vogelbach doesn’t come without questions. He can mash righties but struggles against lefthanded pitching, and it’s not clear how much the Mets will trust him at first base as needed. He also has a career .213/.336/.408 slash line.

But the market is more robust for relievers, Eppler said, and the Pirates were intent on Holderman, so the Mets pounced. He also made it clear that they are nowhere close to done. Look for them to make good on that reliever market and to probably add another bat, too (one that can hit lefthanded pitching wouldn’t hurt).

“We’re having to rob Peter to pay Paul a little bit,” Eppler said of the trade. “We’re going to be open-minded on everything.”

If it feels as if the Mets pressed fast-forward on this season, it’s because they very clearly have — evident from both Eppler’s comments and Showalter’s. That moratorium on scoreboard-watching soon will be a thing of the past, too.

That means everything gets ratcheted up now, and it’s likely we’re going to see even more of the careful managing that’s been a hallmark of Showalter’s early tenure. There’s a reason why he uses his bullpen the way he does: When you look up most innings pitched, you have to scroll past 25 relievers until you get to a single Met (Drew Smith) and 25 more places until you get to another (Edwin Diaz).

The eye toward this year’s finish line certainly has informed how they’re handling Jacob deGrom, who will have at least one more rehab start before his return. That accomplishes a few things. For one, deGrom, who has routinely pumped it up to 100-plus mph in his rehab appearances, won’t get his first taste of major-league competition this year against the Yankees, a charged environment and a prescription for overthrowing. He’s building up his pitch count, Eppler said, and he’ll get to pitch in a competitive environment rather than the simulated game he was last forced to throw.

In a perfect world, it also means one of the best pitchers on the planet will be at his best when everyone else is just a little tired.

It doesn’t hurt that the Mets have one of the easier stretch schedules, according to Tankathon: Beginning Friday, remaining opponents have a .488 winning percentage, or eighth easiest. Atlanta has the 14th hardest.

“It’s a different time of the year now,” Showalter said. “The dog days are here as far as the heat. These next two months are really a challenge physically, mentally and emotionally and it’s what we all get up in the morning for, to be put in that situation and see how you respond.”

No equivocating, no “one game at a time,” no “the standings don’t matter.”

The grind is here, the end is nigh, and it’s time to let the games (and the gamesmanship) begin.