CHICAGO — If the Mets were preparing for a possible National League wild-card game (pure fantasy, but play along), Noah Syndergaard would be third, by plenty, on the list of pitchers deserving of the start.

Syndergaard was exactly the pitcher the Mets wanted in such a spot in 2016, but it’s not just Jacob deGrom and Zack Wheeler’s ascent that explains the change in pecking order. Syndergaard’s regression plays into it, too.

“I just feel like every five days right now I’m just kind of wasting my ability to throw a baseball,” Syndergaard said after his Dog Days of Summer continued Monday with a ragged performance in the Mets’ 7-4 loss to the Cubs at Wrigley Field. “My stuff’s too good to go out there and go six innings and give up four runs with nine base hits. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.”

Jerry Blevins was charged for two runs in the seventh that gave the Cubs their final lead. Ben Zobrist crushed an RBI double against Blevins for the go-ahead run after Anthony Rizzo beat the shift with a bloop double to left. The runs allowed by the lefty Blevins were his first since the All-Star break — he had pitched 10 ²/₃ scoreless innings over that stretch. Rizzo iced the game with a solo homer in the eighth against lefty Daniel Zamora.

Syndergaard, to his credit, recovered with three strong innings after early struggles on an uncomfortably humid night, but by that point he had already surrendered four earned runs over 102 pitches. It was the third start in his past five in which Syndergaard allowed at least four earned runs and pitched fewer than seven innings. Syndergaard’s ERA in August increased to 4.74 — a stretch of six starts following his return from hand, foot and mouth disease.

“I think we are past the point where I can make excuses of being on the disabled list,” Syndergaard said.

Kevin Plawecki removed Syndergaard from culpability by blasting a homer leading off the seventh that tied it 4-4.

Syndergaard’s night unraveled in the third, when the pitcher Jon Lester stroked a two-run single to give the Cubs a 4-3 lead after Kyle Schwarber had been intentionally walked to load the bases.

Syndergaard unleashed a wild pitch to bring in the inning’s first run, after Javier Baez had doubled leading off. With two outs, Jason Heyward walked and Willson Contreras reached on an infield single before Schwarber was walked.

“I saw a lot of balls that were up and kind of middle,” manager Mickey Callaway said. “He usually does a real good job of keeping the ball down, but I saw more mistakes than I usually see in the middle of the plate and they made him pay for it.”

Michael Conforto’s monstrous home run to center field — estimated at 472 feet — gave the Mets a 2-1 lead in the third before Amed Rosario’s RBI single brought in another run.