Even in the ecstasy of hitting a two-run home run that ultimately clinched a postseason berth for the New York Mets on Monday afternoon, Francisco Lindor could not help but think about how much his back was hurting him.
Perhaps it was because he recently returned from a lower back injury that held him out for a week. Maybe it was because he carried his team — as he had done all season — across the finish line and into the playoffs for just the 11th time in its 63-year history.
“My back hurts, I’m tired, I know how good Atlanta is,” Lindor recounted his thought process as he rounded the bases following the Mets’ thrilling 8-7 victory. “But the one thing I had in my mind was thank you Jesus, thank you God.”
Trailing 3-0 in the top of the eighth inning, the Mets jumped on the Braves’ bullpen to plate six runs in the frame — Lindor scoring the second run of that inning with a line-drive single up the middle to keep the rally going. But with a three-run lead, closer Edwin Diaz squandered it all away, yielding four runs after he failed to cover first base on a grounder that would have ended the inning.
It was just the latest calamity that would have given the Mets every reason to fold. They started 0-5 this season, sunk to 11 games under .500 on June 2, spent 99% of their season without their ace, Kodai Senga, and bobbled down the stretch with Lindor nursing that back injury with three straight losses to the Braves and Brewers before pulling out a 5-0 win in Milwaukee on Sunday.
Lindor was front and center there, as well, going 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBI.
“It’s been an uphill fight,” Lindor said. “We put ourselves in a big hole. We kept climbing; we kept our shoulders above water after the All-Star break. We never believed that we were drowning. We counted on each other, we believed in each other. The job that Mendoza has done is outstanding… We believe. I’ve said it since Day 1 that we have the team to do special things. It was on us. Destiny was on us. We had the opportunity to go out and do something special, and we did.”
Monday afternoon provided Lindor’s most indelible moment yet as a Met, though, which says a lot during a season in which he will garner National League MVP consideration by batting .273 with an .844 OPS, 33 home runs, and 91 RBI.
Starling Marte snuck a one-out single through to left field to set the table for the Mets’ MVP. Lindor hopped on a first-pitch curveball and lifted it 413 feet over the center-field fence to deliver not just a victory but New York’s second postseason berth in three years.
“Francisco’s story keeps getting better and better,” Brandon Nimmo, who homered in that big eighth inning, said. “It’s unbelievable to watch him. He’s such a bad man. To come up in that situation and do what he did, it takes such a special person. I’m glad he’s on my team.”
This rollercoaster season will now provide a few more opportunities for Lindor to pen some memorable moments of what is becoming an unforgettable season with a best-of-three Wild Card Series beginning on Tuesday.
“I know what we have and that we believe each other,” Lindor said. “There’s a lot of people that believe in us. They came out here, they were in Milwaukee, they followed us. Those who don’t want to believe us, that’s OK. What’s most important is inside that clubhouse and inside our chest.”
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