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As the flailing Mets look to close out a playoff berth over the final two weeks of the regular season, they can point to a similar team in franchise history.

No, not the 2007 collapse that saw the Mets flush a seven-game lead over the Phillies with 17 to play.

Instead, they must try to party like it’s 1999 all over again.

Managed by Bobby Valentine, the ’99 Mets ended up advancing to the NLCS, but only after losing eight of nine games in late September and barely qualifying for the playoffs by winning a one-game playoff against the Reds.

That ’99 club interestingly also was similar to last year’s squad that reached the NLCS under first-year manager Carlos Mendoza in that it opened the season with a middling 27-28 record before embarking on a 40-15 run to get back into the race.

“Yeah, I was going to text Carlos a month ago and tell him to predict ‘40 and 15 or I’ll quit,’” Valentine joked before Friday’s series opener against the Rangers. “As we experienced as a team, collectively and individually, when things go wrong, it’s because distractions have entered the room

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“But when that distraction is there, somehow you gotta eliminate it. And the biggest distraction you have in this town is winning, and somehow you’ve got to get them back to playing. … And that distraction of winning has got to be combated in this town. It’s got to be dealt with more strongly, right? It’s a tough business, it’s a tough place to play, unless you just go and play. Then it’s just the same game if you just go and play.”

Mendoza’s team is limping to the finish line with a 14-27 mark since July 28 — including a four-game sweep this week by the Phillies — to enter Friday’s game with a 1 ¹/₂-game lead over the Giants and the Reds for the NL’s final wild-card berth.

Edgardo Alfonzo agreed with Valentine during a pregame news conference — also with former double-play partner Rey Ordonez — ahead of Saturday’s Alumni Classic festivities at Citi Field.

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“You have to play, yeah, you gotta fight,” said Alfonzo, who the Mets announced will be inducted into their Latin-American Hall of Fame. “Just to piggyback a little bit with what Bobby says, we had this tough time in ’99 and 2000.

“It sort of sucks when everything’s going bad and you try to do your best and nothing’s coming out of it. But at the same time you have to be positive. You have to believe. I was talking to Carlos, and said it’s bad that you’re going through this bad stretch right now and it’s getting to the end of the season, but on the other side, you have to believe that those guys can do the job. … When you play together, everything seems, like, perfect. But this is what we want this team to start doing from now on.”

Valentine added that he “really liked what I heard” from Mendoza in that regard while seated in the back of the room during the current manager’s pregame availability.

“So Fonzie talked to Carlos, and you listened to Carlos, and five times Carlos sat up here and he mentioned the word ‘trust,’” Valentine said. “That’s what he’s talking about, that you gotta believe.

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“The end is what’s going to happen. It’s at the end of the game, in the season, in life. … You gotta believe as you’re going through it, that you got the right roadmap.”