Wildest of Wins Clinches Mets Wild Card Berth in Wild Season
In a remarkably wild year, the Mets saved their wildest win to clinch a Wild Card berth. A six-run eighth to take the lead?! Sure. However, more was needed after Ozzie Albies delivered a gut-punching, three-run double. Francisco Lindor saved the day and the season with the biggest home run of the year. Let’s take a look back at the unpredictable 2024 Mets. It was a heck of a ride.
MARCH/APRIL
New York started 0-5 and was in the middle of being no-hit in the eighth inning when announcer Gary Cohen had seen enough: “Nobody in the ballpark. 0-5. Hitless through seven. Feels like rock bottom.”
Pete Alonso hit a game-tying homer in the ninth of that game, and Tyrone Taylor won it with a walk-off single to give Carlos Mendoza his first win as a Major League manager. It was the first of 11 walk-offs. Reed Garrett got the win. He was 5-0 with a 0.57 ERA in March/April. The Mets went 15-14.
Walk-offs: Taylor (single, Tigers). Mark Vientos (HR, Cardinals).
MAY
“That which does not kill us makes us stronger,” Friedrich Nietzsche, 19th century German philosopher. (I’m more familiar with the remix by Kelly Clarkson, a 21st-century American pop star). The Mets went 9-19 in May.
The season’s turning point may have occurred on May 29 because Freddie Freeman checked his swing. The Mets appealed to third base umpire Ramon De Jesus, who said he didn’t go around. Reliever Jorge López shouted at De Jesus and was ejected. He dropped the ball on the mound, untucked his shirt, and flung his glove over the safety netting and into the crowd as he walked to the dugout. The loss dropped New York 11 games under .500.
Lindor called a team meeting.
“It’s no secret that things aren’t going the way that we want around here,” Brandon Nimmo said after the game. “And so we just opened the floor and talked about ways we can turn it around. Just felt like a boiling-over point.”
López was designated for assignment. A footnote to that fateful game: It was David Peterson‘s first start.
Walk-offs: Lindor (double, Cubs), Nimmo (HR, Braves), Omar Narváez (single, Giants).
JUNE
In London, with the bases full of Phillies in the bottom of the ninth and the Mets leading 6-5, Nick Castellanos broke his bat and hit a dribbler out in front of home plate. Luis Torrens kept his wits about him, picked up the ball, stepped on home, and threw to first for the game-ending 2-2-3 double play. Brilliant.
Back in the States, Grimace celebrated his 53rd birthday by throwing out the first pitch at Citi Field and the Mets went on a seven-game winning streak. I’m lovin’ it.
And then there was “OMG.” Jackie Robinson worked at an electronics store in the Rego Park section of Queens in the offseason. Jose Iglesias sat at his ranch west of Miami and wrote the lyrics that would reach No. 1 on the iTunes Latin Pop chart.
He performed “OMG” at Citi Field after a June 29 victory over the Astros. His teammates joined him and a HR celebration was born. A 16-8 month had the Mets at 40-41.
Walk-off: J.D. Martinez (HR, Marlins)
JULY
In the most competitive game of the Subway Series, Jake Diekman struck out Aaron Judge with the tying run on base in the ninth inning. The Mets outscored the Yankees 36-14 in winning all four contests. Just like we all predicted! Who’s ready for a rematch in a few weeks?
Kodai Senga missed the Mets’ first 102 games with a shoulder injury. He looked sharp in his return (nine strikeouts) until hurting his left calf an infield play. The Mets went 17-10 in July, but the Senga injury at Citi Field on July 26 was a low point.
Walk-off: Jeff McNeil (single, Braves).
AUGUST
Two walk-off homers in three days to beat the Orioles. First was Francisco Alvarez, then Jesse Winker, who celebrated by firing his helmet to the ground and flexing in the direction of the Mets’ dugout before trotting around the bases.
“I saw it go over the fence, and I blacked out,” Winker said, laughing. “I have no other answer than that. It was a full blackout moment for me.”
What a celebration from Jesse Winker pic.twitter.com/Olh49fezfF
— Metsmerized Online (@Metsmerized) August 21, 2024
A 15-13 month set the Mets up at 72-64 heading into September.
Walk-offs: Alvarez (HR, Orioles), Winker (HR, Orioles).
SEPTEMBER
In a transparent attempt to bring luck their way, the Mets installed a purple Grimace seat at Citi Field in section 302, row 6, seat 12. Fan pilgrimages to the seat and a four-game winning streak followed.
More luck. In the ninth inning, with the Mets up 2-1 against the Phillies, Bryson Stott stole third, and Alvarez’s throw hit the bag, popped up in the air, and took a harmless bounce on the infield. The ball could have gone down the left-field line and allowed Stott to score the tying run.
It brought to mind a play in the 1973 playoff race where the Mets benefited from a lucky carom off Shea Stadium’s left-field wall and threw out a runner at the plate in the top of the 13th inning. New York walked off the Pirates in the bottom half. That team made a run to the World Series.
The month continued with a three-game losing streak to the Braves and Brewers, and a hurricane mixed in caused Monday’s unprecedented split-or-die doubleheader.
Which, of course, brings us to our clinching game: game one of Monday’s doubleheader. Things started bleak, as the Mets’ offense was dormant for the first seven innings. They simply haven’t figured out Spencer Schwellenbach yet. However, an 11-pitch at-bat by Tyrone Taylor, which ended in a double, set up an explosive six-run inning, capped off by a Brandon Nimmo 2-run blast. The dramatics continued after the Braves came back and took the lead, but MVP Lindor put the final blow on the game with a 2-run dinger in the 9th. The Mets turned their Atlanta blues around, winning 8-7 to make their postseason return.
VALUABLE pic.twitter.com/OLePF3CkvX
— Metsmerized Online (@Metsmerized) September 30, 2024
The way this season went, it couldn’t have ended any other way.
Walk-offs: Vientos (HR, Reds), Starling Marte (single, Nationals)
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER
No rest for these Mets. They hit the road for a playoff game Tuesday. There are rumors of an “OMG” remix. The World Series could run into November. Should Grimace make parade plans? The Mets have come a long way from “rock bottom.”
The post Wildest of Wins Clinches Mets Wild Card Berth in Wild Season appeared first on Metsmerized Online.