April was the best month for the Mets by far last year and looking at this year, April will be an important test for the team. I know that April games don't mean anything, but when the division is lost by one game, it is hard to say that a loss early in the season doesn't matter. That being said the breakdown of the Mets' 27 April games are as follows:
NL East:
FLA-2
ATL-6
PHI-6
WAS-5
NL Cent:
MIL-3
CHC-2
PIT-3
In April, the Mets will play 19 games against the East and 8 games against the Central. 17 of those 27 games will be against teams that finished last year above .500. 8 of those games will be against teams that made the playoffs last year.
Crucial games will be playing the Phillies home-because for some reason the Mets seem to play much better on the road. (Only 12 of their 27 games in April will be away). So, like any other season, the critical games will be vs the Braves and the Phils, only because they are rivals. If the Cubs are as good as they were in the latter half of last year, it will also be important to put them in their place. The East has to establish themselves as the best division in Baseball (right now they are not) and the Mets have to establish themselves as the best team in that division.
