Mets clinch postseason berth with epic win, face-off with Brewers in Wild Card Series

New York will travel to Milwaukee after clinching their 11th playoff appearance in franchise history. Plus, how the Mets epic win exemplified their 2024 season.

What’s Up with the Mets? 🍾🎊

GAME ONE

• The Mets defeated the Braves by an 8-7 score in an epic Game 1 of their double-header, clinching their first trip to the postseason since 2022 (box)

• With the victory, New York heads to the playoffs for the 11th time in franchise history and the seventh time since 1999

• The Mets become the fourth team in MLB history to make the playoffs after starting the season 0-5 (1974 Pirates, 1995 Reds, 2011 Rays)

• Trailing by a run in the 9th inning of Game 1, SS Francisco Lindor crushed a dramatic, go-ahead two-run home run (33) to ultimately win the game

• RHP Edwin Díaz blew the save in the 8th inning after not covering first base with two outs and allowing four runs to score, but nailed the game down with a second chance in the 9th

• After getting shutout by Braves RHP Spencer Schwellenbach for the first seven innings, the Mets offense exploded for six runs thanks to RBI hits from Francisco Álvarez, Francisco Lindor and José Iglesias, a sac fly from Mark Vientos and a two-run home run for Brandon Nimmo

• RHP Tylor Megill pitched 5.2 solid innings in the victory, allowing three runs on eight hits with eight strikeouts

• RHPs Huascar Brazobán and Adam Ottavino contributed with 1.1 scoreless innings in relief

• Carlos Mendoza becomes the first rookie manager in Mets franchise history to make the postseason

• Prior to their victory in Game 1, the Mets had been 0-47 this season when trailing by three-plus runs in the 8th inning or later

GAME TWO

• The Mets (rightfully) took their foot off the gas and lost a far less exciting second game of their double header, losing to the Braves 3-0 (box)

• With the victory, the Braves clinched a postseason spot that will send them to San Diego to face the Padres

• New York will face-off against the Brewers tonight in Milwaukee to kick-off the postseason

• LHP Joey Lucchesi was called up to make the Game 162 start and gave the club the innings they needed, pitching six innings of one-run ball

• RHPs Huascar Brazobán and Adam Ottavino were the only pitchers to appear in both games for the Mets, pitching the final two innings

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GAME ONE

Match-up: Mets (0-0) vs. Brewers (0-0)

Where: American Family Field — Milwaukee, WI

Starters: RHP Luis Severino vs. RHP Freddy Peralta

When: 5:32 PM EDT

Where to Watch: ESPN

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Moment of the Game ⭐

In a topsy-turvy epic game, there is no other candidate for the Moment of the Game than Francisco Lindor’s game-winning, postseason-clinching, two-run home run in the 9th inning.

After Edwin Díaz melted down in the 8th inning, it appeared as if the Mets were set up to experience a gut-wrenching loss after making such a spirited comeback. But with their MVP injected back into this lineup, he wasn’t going to have it.

One of the biggest regular season home runs in franchise history.

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Who’s Hot 🔥

• Francisco Lindor is 6-for-15 (.400) with two home runs, five RBI, two walks, two stolen bases and four runs scored since returning from his back injury

• Tylor Megill finishes the season with a 2.30 ERA in last six starts since being recalled from Triple-A

• José Iglesias finishes the season with a 22-game hitting streak, the longest by a Met since Wilson Ramos in 2019

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Looking Back at Preseason Predictions 🔮

The Mets finished the season with a remarkable 89-73 record in a season where not much was expected from them. Here’s a quick look back to our staff’s preseason predictions…

Michael Baron: 83-79
Rich MacLeod: 85-77
Andrew Steele-Davis: 80-82
Linda Surovich: 85-77
Justin Mears: 87-75

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Getting Ready for Mets vs. Brewers 💥

• The Mets went 1-5 vs the Brewers in six games this season

• Milwaukee was a perfect 17-for-17 in stolen base attempts against New York

• Mets RHP Luis Severino has a 5.15 ERA over 11 career appearances in the playoffs (all with the Yankees)

• Brewers RHP Freddy Peralta has a 3.46 ERA over four career appearances in the postseason

• Mets C Francisco Álvarez went 7-for-15 (.467) with a home run vs the Brewers this year

• The Brewers have lost each of their last four postseason series and have not advanced in the playoffs since the 2018 season

• New York is seeking their first playoff series victory since 2015 (0-2 since)

• The winner of this series would play the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLDS

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Epic clincher embodies everything the Mets are in 2024… ✍️

As the emotions become less raw and the thrill of the moment begins to subside, I can say with a clear head that Monday afternoon saw the greatest regular season game that’s ever been played in the 62-year history of the New York Mets.

If you somehow missed this I genuinely feel sorry for you, because that was an absolute classic that had every twist and turn you could possibly imagine.

What looked like a three-hour death march, which would have forced the Mets into a win-or-go-home situation in the second end of their double header, flipped on a dime in surreal fashion in the 8th inning. After getting shut down by Spencer Schwellenbach for the first seven innings, Mets fans everywhere were doing their calculations on how hard the Braves were going to be trying in the second game and what the state of the pitching rotation would be heading into a potential playoff series.

After an 11 pitch at-bat from Tyrone Taylor led to a leadoff double, the Braves pulled Schwellenbach from the game and from there, everything changed in the blink of an eye.

Before you could even process what was happening before you, the Mets had put together a rally of epic proportions. New York’s offense came alive and led off the 8th inning with four straight hits, including RBI knocks from Francisco Álvarez, Francisco Lindor and José Iglesias to tie the game at three. They didn’t take their foot off the gas pedal, though, as Mark Vientos gave the club their first lead of the game, and their first lead vs the Braves since July, with a sacrifice fly. And to “put the hammer down,” as Gary Cohen would say, Brandon Nimmo hit an absolute bomb of a two-run homer to right field.

In the moment, it was absolute euphoria. I was jumping, I was screaming, and my hands never left the top of my head because I simply couldn’t believe what I was seeing. For just a second, it felt as if the Mets had finally turned the page in their late-season struggles in Atlanta in epic proportions.

But this game wasn’t that simple.

It’s the Mets, after all, and if they didn’t make you sweat it out and question your own sanity – question why you ever started watching sports in the first place – it just wouldn’t be them.

In the very next half-inning, Atlanta began to put together a rally and we all started clenching every muscle in our bodies as we realized this was not going to end quietly. With two outs in the inning Edwin Díaz got what would have been the final out of the inning after a diving stop from Pete Alonso but no… Díaz forgot to cover the bag, a run scored and the inning was still alive.

And back came that sinking feeling. You could feel it in your bones.

In an instant, all of the good will and exhilaration had been snatched from our souls as Ozzie Albies torched a pitch from an unraveling Díaz for a three-run double, instantly giving the lead right back to the Braves. Could the Mets really be doing this to us again? Could the Braves?? Was this comeback just one final tease so that there could be one final knife from Atlanta into our orange and blue hearts?

And then came the 9th inning. With a runner on first, the team’s MVP in Francisco Lindor came up to bat. We all hoped, we all prayed, but how many of us truly believed what would come next?

As Lindor made contact, I refused to believe it. I bought into when Gary Cohen said that Lindor “got under it.” I focused on Lindor’s reaction, which live in the moment seemed to indicate that he didn’t quite get it. Even as Michael Harris II climbed the fence, I braced myself for the ultimate cruelty from the baseball gods. But this time, none of that happened.

The ball cleared the fence, and the heart of Mets nation exploded with a level of emotion that we have not seen in years. It was emotional whiplash, and an absolutely epic moment that we will all remember for the rest of our lives. The Mets still had to fight their way through three more outs, but Edwin Díaz got his reprieve from the governor, was able to grit through the bottom of the 9th and fittingly retire the former Mets catcher Travis d’Arnaud for the final out.

“From 0-5 to OMG! What a ride, the Mets are going to the postseason in 2024!” Gary Cohen whooped in the SNY booth as New York clinched their way into the postseason.

Lindor, the hero for the Mets all season long, was in tears at second base, and I was right there with him as the emotion of the moment fully set in for me. There were so many times this season that I thought this team was dead and buried because I simply could not believe that something magical was truly happening. I was too scared of getting hurt again after what happened at the end of 2022, and I expected the worst.

But this baseball team proved me wrong over-and-over-and-over again, and they did that for one final time on Monday afternoon in the most unbelievable way possible.

And honestly, this game truly was as if the Mets had played their entire 2024 season in a single game. The first seven innings of quiet, ugly baseball represented the first few months of the season when everyone wrote them off. The six-run rally in the 8th was the hot streak in June and early July to vault them back into the conversation, and the blown save in the bottom of the 8th represented the end of August when it looked like the team had run out of gas. For it to all be capped off with that homer run from Lindor and final out from Díaz is unbelievably appropriate, and now that I think about it I can’t imagine it transpiring any other way.

Not only did this win embody everything about these 2024 Mets but to me, this finally puts the ghosts of 2022 to rest. I’ve written it many times in the two years since but that late-season series in Atlanta broke me as a baseball fan for a long time and ultimately marred my memory of what was largely a really fun season. It bled into their way-too-short playoff run that year, it affected how little I cared during a disappointing 2023 season, and it’s what made it so hard for me to truly believe in this team at so many points this season.

But yesterday in Atlanta, the Mets finally slayed the dragon. After so many years of gut-wrenching late September losses to the Braves in this house of horrors – despite the ballpark seemingly changing every few years – the New York Mets were finally the ones to come out on top in an epic game. It was the Mets that were finally the ones to deliver a heartbreaking loss to that fan base and it was the Mets, not the Braves, who got to celebrate on that field first.

Would it have been truly sweet to beat Atlanta in the second game of the double header and actually ruin their season in the way they’ve done to us so many times? For sure, and perhaps the Mets will get another crack at that in a season in the near future. But for now, this team has bigger things on their mind.

They now head back to Milwaukee to open up a best-of-three postseason series, their first crack at October baseball since that bitter end two years ago, with a chance to make this unexpected run even more magical.

It’s not going to be easy as the Brewers have been a uniquely difficult match-up for the Mets over their six-game sample size this year and perhaps this postseason run will be short-lived, but at this point I think I’m okay with whatever happens next. For the Mets to have reached this point after having such little expectations going into the season and falling 11 games under .500 in May is nothing short of a miracle, and while we’re all hoping for a 2015 or dare I say 1969-level run, I don’t think any of us would be too upset if they’re not able to beat Milwaukee.

That being said, these Mets have proved that absolutely anything is possible. And I know that one thing is for sure: I am officially done doubting this baseball team.

LFGM.

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The Championship Chase 🏆

• The Astros and Tigers will kick-off the postseason with Game 1 of the AL Wild Card Series in Houston at 2:32 PM EST

• Orioles RHP Corbin Burnes will make his playoff debut with the club as they start their series with the Royals and LHP Cole Ragans

• After clinching on Monday, the Braves will head to San Diego to face the Padres

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Additional News 📰

• MLB legend and all-time hit king Pete Rose passed away at the age of 83 on Monday – Rose was a three-time World Series champion, 1975 World Series MVP, 1973 NL MVP and a 17-time All-Star over his 24-year career in the major leagues