There might not be much for the Mets to play for, but Mets players are playing for their careers and livelihoods.

With nice nights from plenty of the offense — including newcomer Jonathan Arauz and the battling Daniel Vogelbach — and a couple of encouraging club pitching debuts, the Mets beat the Pirates, 7-2, in a series-opener in front of 23,151 at Citi Field on a rainy Monday.

In winning a second straight contest, the Mets (54-65) moved a game up on the idle Nationals and thus a game clear of the NL East cellar. They also snapped a tie with the Pirates (53-66), who are tied with Washington for the sixth-worst record in baseball.

The overall standings are significant for draft reasons: A lottery consisting of all the non-playoff teams will be conducted in the offseason. If the Mets wind up with a top-six selection, they would keep it. If the Mets’ first pick falls outside of the top six, it would be bumped down 10 spots because of their payroll.

The Mets, who have the ninth-worst record in MLB, have reasons to lose — which do not matter to their players. The Mets’ offense scored at least one run in each of the first six innings, a steady attack effective against ineffective Pirates pitchers.

Francisco Lindor reached three of four times, stole his 20th base of the season and is still playing hard. As is Brandon Nimmo, who crushed his 16th home run of the season in the sixth, which provided the Mets’ final run.

Pride matters, but so do players’ futures. Arauz, a flexible infielder who spent most of his season at Triple-A Syracuse, punched his first home run in his eighth Mets game and his sixth in 76 career major league contests. The 25-year-old from Panama flexed his glove at second base, too, robbing former Mets prospect Endy Rodriguez of a hit with a diving catch after sprinting to his left.

Playing against the team that dealt him at the 2022 trade deadline, Vogelbach also made noise in reaching base in three of four plate appearances and cranking his ninth home run. The lefty DH will be a curiosity this offseason, when the Mets can extend another contract or nontender the 30-year-old. A strong finish could sway the thinking.

Carlos Carrasco (three runs, two runs on 88 pitches) placed the Mets in an early hole that the offense and a few new arrivals took care of.

Tyson Miller, a 28-year-old righty picked up from the Dodgers, pitched two scoreless innings in his club debut.

Sam Coonrod, a hard-throwing reliever who missed four and a half months with a lat strain, debuted in the sixth inning and flashed excellent stuff. He got into trouble through walking Alfonso Rivas and Liover Peguero reaching on a tapper, but the righty bounced back to strike out Connor Joe with a fastball and Bryan Reynolds with a changeup.

On another dreary night when not much truly mattered, several Mets took hopeful steps toward their playing futures.