METS GET A HERO'S WELCOME, & PERFORM HEROICS

Minutes after it started, it seemed to be over for the doom-riddled Mets fans. Making his second appearance of the year, Kodai Senga threw his third pitch to Kyle Schwarber and it sailed gracefully over the right field wall. It appeared as though it was going to be one of THOSE games, which would in turn dictate the rest of the series. But Senga was unfazed, tuning out the raucous crowd at Citizens Bank Park. He put his head down and got to work. Then David Peterson got to work, followed by Reed Garrett. Before you knew it, the Mets were still only facing a 0-1 deficit entering the 8th inning. 

 

This was the story that resonated throughout the NLDS. For the most part, the Mets pitching staff was able to hold down the fort against one of the best lineups in baseball, allowing their bats to strike when they found their way. And the bats always found their way, sometimes too late for comfort. Zack Wheeler blanked the Mets for the first 7 innings of game 1, but entering the 8th, they were ready to feast on the bullpen. It was a team effort to play small ball and bully the Phillies bullpen into allowing 5 runs. After another back-and-forth, the Mets locked in a comfortable 6-2 win. 

 

Game 2 was a much different story, a complete anomaly from the rest of the series. Mark Vientos opened up the scoring with a 2-run homer in the 3rd and Pete Alonso followed up with a solo shot in the 6th. But then, with two outs in the bottom of the 6th, Luis Severino ran into trouble. He gave up a 2-run homer to Bryce Harper and then another homer to Nick Castellanos and they were suddenly staring down a tie game with a Philadelphia crowd coming to life for the first time in over a day. It became an epic back-and-forth, with Brandon Nimmo hitting a solo shot in immediate response, followed by an Edwin Díaz meltdown, followed by another Mark Vientos home run to tie the game up at 6 a piece. In the bottom of the 9th, Tylor Megill was able to get two Phillies out before the wheels fell off. Nick Castellanos sent Bryce Harper home on a line drive single and they won the shootout, 7-6. It was a loss that stung, but one that you couldn’t fault the Mets for. This was, after all, the champions of the NL East and the #1 seed. It was never going to be easy and the Mets gave it their best. All they could do was go forward.

 

It had been 16 days since the Mets saw the home crowd at Citi Field. A lot of things happened in that time. They faced elimination twice and respectively performed two of the best baseball games ever played. There’s been unlikely heroes, new mascots and an improbable run. The atmosphere in Citi Field was unlike anything those grounds have ever experienced. If only you could bottle up the energy and stow it away, you’d have enough good vibes to get through several winters. The city has gone rabid for their heroics, they were given a video message from Seymour Weiner, Grimace made a pro wrestling entrance with the Rally Pumpkin, Keith Hernandez threw the first pitch to John Franco, for all of their quirks and charms, the Mets were given a feverish hero’s welcome. And it was one that this gracious writer will never forget.

 

When Pete Alonso came up to bat in the bottom of the 2nd, he was a completely different player than what Citi Field last saw. He changed his walkup song to “American Pie”, seemingly an ode to his impending free agency. Weeks ago, fans would be fine with this, as they were ready to let go. But now that he has single-handedly kept the playoffs alive, Mets fans became alarmed at the prospect of losing him. He was given a full standing ovation as he stepped into the box and he sent the first pitch he saw over the right field fence. The earth rumbled and the stadium became unglued. They became just as unglued in the 4th, when folk legend Jessie Winker stood in awe as he watched the ball sail into the Coke Corner. Nothing could and wouldn’t go wrong that night. Sean Manea is an absolute gamer. He has vocally been the team’s cheerleader when not pitching and on the mound, he refused to let the lineup get to him. The Phillies barely threatened him and when they did, the defense came in clutch to shut it down. 

 

The Mets understood the task at hand for game 3. They knew they had to swing a hot bat early and often. They knew that the key parts of their bullpen were deflated and tired. They knew that the crowd would provide all the energy they needed. Everything went according to plan. Only 3 pitchers had to be used, the bats stayed hot all night and Citi Field became one giant block party. All they had to do was keep the energy up on Wednesday and book their flights to California. 

 

After spending all season in their shadow, the Mets finally had the Phillies on the ropes. Jose Quintana was once again on point, tossing 5 sparkling innings with 2 hits and one unearned run. The Mets bats stayed on attack against Ranger Suarez, but couldn’t find their way home. The Phillies called to the bullpen in the 6th and Jeff Hoffman quickly loaded the bases. He was given the hook for Carlos Estevez to face Francisco Lindor and because of that, the crowd got to sing “My Girl” twice. The walkup song has been the catalyst to Lindor’s MVP campaign and the crowd of 45,000+ sang it on the top of their lungs. He fouled off one pitch and spat on two others. 

 

On the 4th pitch, time stood still.

 

The world stopped to observe a man swinging a bat. A man that’s seemingly in pain from back injuries that he refuses to complain about or let hinder him. A man who would move heaven and earth for his wife and two girls. A man that has already had a storied career and would have nothing to prove to enshrine himself in the hall of fame. A man that has seen incredible highs and depressing lows during his tenure in New York. A man that was once a shell of himself and rose to prominence in the biggest way possible. A man that woke his team up and inspired them to just have fun with it. A man that has carried the franchise on his back and led them to this improbable run. A man, facing a pitch, swinging a bat.

 

In a call that will replay in the minds of every Mets fan until the end of time, Howie Rose exclaimed, “Francisco Lindor, he may have just outdone himself! The Mets were famished and Lindor gave them a feast!” As the ball rocketed into orbit, Francisco didn’t take time to admire it. He didn’t give any theatrics. He ran the bases, let the crowd celebrate for him and held back the tears. Every person who has ever played baseball dreams about these moments. But when these moments keep happening over and over, you have no choice but to be humble. That’s what makes him a great leader and one of the best to ever play the game. 

 

In the 9th inning, Edwin Díaz ran into trouble. His energy levels were too high, causing his pitches to fly wildly. The first two batters walked before he was able to get in the zone, literally and mentally. With 2 outs and 2 men on, the 4-1 lead hung in the balance of Kyle Schwarber. Because of course it would be Kyle Schwarber, one of the most prolific postseason home run hitters in history. Edwin fooled him with a slider ending in the middle for strike 1. The second slider went wild. The third slider was fouled off and on a 1-2 count, we all knew the heat was coming. But what Schwarber didn’t anticipate was how much heat was actually coming. Schwarber swung at a 102 MPH fastball and got nothing but air. For the first time in Citi Field history, the Mets have clinched a series win. Thousands of people stayed for hours afterwards to cheer the celebrating players and express their joy and disbelief. This is a team of destiny moving on to a pool of 3 other teams of destiny. Whatever comes next is all up in their hands. They wouldn’t want it any other way,

 

For the first time in a while, the Mets get to rest. They’ll travel to southern California this weekend to start the NLCS. We don’t know if they’ll face the Padres or Dodgers. But there is one thing we’ll know for sure: the team they’re facing will be coming out of a firefight and will be depleted. 7 trains are still decked out in Grimace decals, Candelita’s remix of “OMG” with Pitbull is being released imminently, people are greeting each other on the sidewalks, the vibes in Flushing remain immaculate. The Mets may not be the statistical favorite, but at this point, it would be foolish to count them out. You just gotta, you know, believe.

Going into Thursday night, the Brewers had momentum in their favor. They were clearly in control the night before, a sold out crowd of 41,594 filled the stands to cheer them on and they had a guy named Tobias Myers on the bump. Just who is Tobias Myers? Well, he’s a rookie and his stuff is sneakily disgusting. He spent his 5 innings of work throwing balls straight into the zone, but missing every bat that went towards it. The movement at the end of every pitch confounded the Mets hitters up and down the lineup. The only one that wasn’t fooled was Francisco Lindor, who got two hits off of him. Those two hits were the sum of the Mets offense through the first 7 innings. Trevor Megill, Nick Mears and Freddy Peralta held down the fort in the Brewers bullpen, allowing zero baserunners through 3 cumulative innings of work. The Mets seemed to be completely and hopelessly lost.

 

As things seemed more and more improbable, the most optimistic of Mets fans realized that the Brewers were dealing with the same problems. Jose Quintana started for the Mets and he gave a career performance. While allowing 4 hits and a walk, he never once ran into any tangible trouble. He tossed 6 shutout innings and did everything in his power to keep the team alive. But as soon as he was replaced by Jose Butto, all the effort was ruined. The first batter he faced was everyman, Jake Bauers, who hit a 3-2 pitch into the right field stands. On the next pitch, everyman Sal Frelick hit a fastball to the same exact spot. It was, for all intents and purposes, over. American Family Field went into a feverish rave, while manager Carlos Mendoza did the only thing he could do to stop the bleeding: he called for his closer. 

 

In a rare seventh inning appearance, Edwin Díaz did what he could to keep it a 2-0 game. But closers are special creatures that thrive on habit and this took Edwin out of his comfort zone. He walked two batters, who stole second and third respectively. Then, with two outs, William Contreras made what would have been an inning-ending popup. Pete Alonso stood under it and watched it miss his glove completely. 

 

It was a sight to be seen that felt definitively appropriate for Pete Alonso. The days of him being a rookie record-breaking phenom were long gone. Facing free agency this offseason, he wasn’t able to make a good case for himself. Despite making an admirable 34 home runs, his .240/.329/.459 slash line wasn’t going to send beefy offers to his door. It appeared as though this would be the last time we see Pete in a Mets uniform and after dropping the ball, a large chunk of the fanbase said “good riddance”. ESPN decided to show a slow motion replay of the dropped ball and the images spoke a thousand words. You could see the crowd behind him, making faces in mockery. One kid even busted his face in the netting because he was laughing so hard. And the look on Pete’s face was one of a broken man, one that fell victim to his own hype. With only 6 outs left before elimination, he may not even have a chance to go up to bat again. This was how fans would remember him.

 

By the grace of the baseball Gods, Edwin Díaz got out of the mess and then also pitched a clean 8th inning. For the top of the 9th, the Brewers sent out their closer, Devin Williams, to face the top of the Mets order. Leading off, Francisco Lindor understood the assignment. Being down 2-0 with no tomorrow, he knew that he couldn’t swing for the fences. Instead, he showed restraint and patience, allowing himself to see and show his teammates what Devin’s arsenal looked like. He drew a 7 pitch walk and Brandon Nimmo used the intel to poke a changeup into left field. Which brought up the Polar Bear himself, Pete Alonso.

 

Across the nation, Mets fans were visualizing how this would turn out. Surely, the ground ball specialist was going to make the dejected free agent ground into a double play to win the game. We could all see it in our heads. In fact, there’s multiple variants of this universe in which this exact outcome happened. This year has been nothing but magical for the Mets, but that magic can only last for so long. They already had their Hollywood Ending on Monday, that was where the movie ends. And for what it was worth, it was a good movie. 

 

Nobody anticipated a sequel.

 

The first pitch to Pete was a juicy changeup right down the middle that he just…looked at. That was his home run ball and he watched it go by. The next three pitches were nowhere near the strike zone, but Pete wasn’t fooled. He remained steady and studious, waiting for the right moment to swing his bat. The 5th pitch was the same as the 1st and he let it rip. The right fielder chased it down until his back hit the wall and the ball bounced off the top. For the first time in postseason history, a home run was hit in the 9th inning to take the lead in a winner-takes-all game. The first time in the storied history of baseball. Pete Alonso had the biggest home run of his life, he saved the season and seemingly saved his career. Souls left the bodies of fans everywhere, angry tweets were deleted and the lower section of Citi Field rumbled, as a raucous crowd watched on the big screen. In the most improbable year, this team keeps doing the impossible.

 

After a 4-2 win and a frenzied champagne celebration, the Mets are traveling to Philadelphia for a best of 5 series against the Phillies. While clearly the underdogs, the Mets have a lot going in their favor. For starters, there’s recent history to take into account. They won 3 out of 4 games in their last series against them. You also have to factor in that the Phillies no longer have a competitive bite. It’s been weeks since they clinched the division and they’ll be playing on 6 days rest. That seems normal in other sports, but in baseball, it could be a death warrant for the Phillies. After that, if they advance, they’ll face either the Padres or Dodgers. The Padres would be a worthy opponent to get revenge on and its one that the Mets know well. The Dodgers may appear scary on paper, but this is a top-heavy team that is the weakest they’ve looked in a decade. Why am I thinking this far ahead? Because in the history of the Milwaukee Brewers, every team to beat them in the postseason has gone on the win the pennant. They are the ultimate stepping stone in baseball lore and there’s no reason to believe that the streak will continue. 

 

Because after last night, we know that we should always believe.