Travis d'Arnaud #15, Jenrry Mejia #58 and David Wright #5 of the New York Mets celebrate after defeating the Miami Marlins at Citi Field on July 12, 2014. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images) Travis d'Arnaud #15, Jenrry Mejia #58 and David Wright #5 of the New York Mets celebrate after defeating the Miami Marlins at Citi Field on July 12, 2014. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — The Mets kick off the second half of the MLB season against the Padres in San Diego on Friday night.

The club has quite an uphill climb if it’s going to return to the postseason for the first time since 2006.

But closer Jenrry Mejia believes that the Amazin’s will be the surprise team of the second half.

“We’re gonna make it because we believe in ourselves,” the reliever told SNY. “We’ll be ready, and we’re gonna make the playoffs. We’re gonna be there.”

With 67 games remaining on the schedule, New York (45-50) is seven games behind the first-place Braves and Nationals in the National League East. The Mets are also seven games out in the Wild Card race.

New York finished the first half red-hot, taking eight of 10 games at Citi Field to keep the season alive.

“The second Wild Card team helps everybody,” Eric Campbell, who has provided a spark off the bench, told the network. “It seems like, even if you’re five or six games out, you’re close. The last week or two was huge for us, just getting closer to .500. And we’ll look to continue that in July.”

Following their three-game set against the Padres, the Mets will head to Seattle for three and then Milwaukee for four.

They’ll return to Queens on July 28 to square off with the division-rival Phillies.

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