Mets continue to snatch souls after yet another comeback win in Game 1
New York outlasts Zack Wheeler and scores six runs in the final two innings in the first game of the NLDS. Plus, how it has become impossible to doubt this baseball team.
New York Jets fans: subscribe to our football newsletter and podcast, Just Jets 🏈
What’s Up with the Mets? 🚩
The Mets engineered another late comeback to defeat the Phillies, 6-2, in Game 1 of the NLDS (box)
After being shutdown by Phillies RHP Zack Wheeler and trailing 1-0 through seven innings, New York’s offense exploded for five runs in the 8th and another in the 9th to complete yet another come-from-behind win
In their 8th inning rally Mark Vientos tied the game with an RBI double, Brandon Nimmo gave the Mets the lead with an RBI single, and the team poured it on with RBIs from Pete Alonso, J.D. Martínez and Starling Marte
Nimmo finished the game going 2-for-4 with two RBI, a walk and a run scored
RHP Kodai Senga returned to the mound in just his second appearance of the season, allowing one run on a hit and a walk with three strikeouts over two innings
LHP David Peterson pitched effectively in long relief for the club, hurling three scoreless innings while working around a hit and three walks
RHP Reed Garrett was the unsung hero of the game for the bullpen, firing two perfect innings to keep the deficit at one run
Home plate umpire Andy Fletcher missed 16 calls on Saturday — 11 of which went against the Mets
New York now has two five-run innings this postseason, the first time they’ve accomplished that feat in franchise history
Injury Updates 🏥
INF/OF Jeff McNeil (fractured right wrist) rejoined the team on Saturday and has resumed baseball activities – he could potentially return to the club in the NLCS or World Series if the team makes it that far
Roster Moves 📰
RHP Kodai Senga activated from 60-day injured list
RHP Paul Blackburn transferred to the 60-day injured list
RHP Tylor Megill activated to postseason roster
RHP Max Kranick removed from postseason roster
RHP Huascar Brazobán removed from postseason roster
Did you know? ⁉️
According to Elias, prior to 2024, only one pitcher had started a Postseason game after making one or no MLB appearances that season. In 1945, Virgil Trucks started two World Series games after returning from WWII. This season, AJ Smith-Shawver did it in Game 1 of the 2024 NL Wild Card Series, and now Kodai Senga did it for the Mets on Saturday to start the NLDS
The Mets are the first team in MLB history to clinch a postseason spot in a win and win a playoff series BOTH via games in which they faced a deficit in the ninth inning or later (Sarah Langs)
The Mets are now 2-0 when trailing entering the 8th inning in the playoffs, and are just the fifth team in MLB history to have multiple such wins in a single postseason – 1996 Yankees (5), 1980 Phillies (4), 2015 Royals (3), 1986 Mets (3) (Sarah Langs)
The Mets are now 55-41 in postseason play - their .573 winning percentage is the third-best in baseball history (Marlins 24-16, .600 and the Yankees 245-178, .579)
Moment of the Game ⭐
This may be the most difficult choice we’ve had so far this postseason as each of the Mets runs in their five-run 8th inning comeback were driven in by different players.
I think the honor here has to go to Mark Vientos, who tied the game at 1-1 with this RBI double down the left field line. While New York would go on to score several more important runs later in the inning, this was the hit that really told you “this team is really doing it again.”
To me, once they tied the game up, it felt like a near certainty that the Mets would eventually grab the lead. Which they did.
GAME TWO
Match-up: Mets (1-0) vs. Phillies (0-1)
Where: Citizens Bank Park — Philadelphia, PA
Starters: RHP Luis Severino (1-0, 4.50 ERA) vs. LHP Cristopher Sánchez
When: 4:08 PM EDT
Where to Watch: FS1
How can you not believe at this point? ✍️
If you’re familiar with me at all – whether it be personally or just from my sports fandom online – you probably know that I am naturally one of the more anxious people on the face of this planet. When it comes to the Mets, that anxiety is magnified tenfold.
Growing up as a Mets fan (and a Jets fan… and a Knicks fan… and a Rangers fan…) my default has almost always been to expect things to go wrong. Murphy’s law. Even when things are good, I’m usually looking around nervously as I wait for the other shoe to drop. Rooting for teams like that I’ve unfortunately been right more than not over the years.
It’s one of the main reasons why it sometimes takes me longer than others to warm up to certain teams, and it was a big reason why I was so hesitant to believe in this team for so long this year.
Like everyone else, I thought this team was dead in the water with no hopes of turning things around in May. I initially hesitated to buy into the impossible playoff chase in early June. I very infamously “called it” on the Mets season in late August, and again called them gutless when it felt as if they were going to choke away a playoff spot after three bad games in the final week of the regular season.
Again and again and again, I’ve attempted to protect myself by just expecting everything to go wrong. But over and over again, night after night, my pessimistic base instincts continue to be proven wrong.
At this point… how in the world can you not believe in this Mets team?
In the last six days alone, the Mets have had three of the greatest wins of my entire lifetime. They’ve engineered late, come-from-behind wins that fan bases go years without seeing, and they’ve done it all in the most important, high-pressure games imaginable.
That playoff-clinching comeback win vs the Braves would’ve been enough to emotionally feed Mets fans for years, and you now almost forget that it took place less than a week ago! That was the win that really started turning the tide for the way I view this team, and from then on I vowed to stop doubting them.
Somehow, someway this team has managed to out-do that unreal victory with an even more shocking, bone-chilling, back-from-the-brink win vs the Brewers in Game 3 of the Wild Card Series. Just when it all looked over for the Mets – again! – it was Pete Alonso with one of the most storybook home runs in the history of this franchise, turning a 2-0 deficit to a 3-2 lead and eventually clinching the club’s first playoff series win in nine years.
Not only have I been made a complete fool to ever suggest that this group of men lacked guts, but I have now completely succumbed to my fandom. I am a true believer at this point, and I am feeling a level of excitement, hope and confidence that I have only felt a handful of times in my entire life when it comes to this baseball team.
I tweeted about it on Saturday morning, but it reminds me of the way I felt in the Fall of the 2015 season. I still remember everything about that time in my life. As the Mets made their run to the World Series, the air in New York City felt absolutely electric. I had chills coursing through my body as we all experienced that journey together, and it truly felt as if anything was possible.
Entering Game 1 of the NLDS, I felt those exact same feelings for the first time since. The only difference is, of course, that I’m 33 now and only slightly more emotionally damaged than I was then.
I think the greatest indicator of the change I’ve not only seen in myself but in a lot of Mets fans was how everything went down yesterday in Philadelphia. Despite New York getting absolutely shoved against by their own former pitcher Zack Wheeler – who generated 30 swings-and-misses over seven one-hit, scoreless innings – and trailing 1-0 entering the 8th inning, I felt an unfamiliar sense of calmness.
And this calm feeling was not the acceptance of defeat, or saying “better luck tomorrow.” It was confidence. A confidence I’ve not felt in… maybe ever. And I got the sense from the majority of Mets fans, aside from perhaps the most negative of the bunch, were feeling the exact same way.
It’s strange, really, but I felt the same level of calmness with six outs to go in the game as I did during the entire day leading up to the first pitch.
It’s because this team has earned it, and they have caused us to unlearn some of our greatest traumas over the last week alone from what they have accomplished on the field. They have made such a habit of coming back from the dead in games over the last week – let alone how they’ve showed such resilience over this entire season – that I just expected them to stage a rally at some point in this game.
Even with Wheeler absolutely dominating them, even with only six outs to play with, and even knowing that you can’t have an epic, late-game comeback every single night… I just felt the confidence inside me that if they could get Wheeler out of that game, at any point, they were going to do something special.
And if you had that same confidence yesterday you were rewarded with yet another phenomenal rally from this group, as they came to life against the Phillies bullpen for five runs in the 8th inning and got contributions from pretty much everyone on this team. This was an inning that saw Francisco Álvarez and Francisco Lindor get on base to set things up, Mark Vientos tying the game, Brandon Nimmo giving them the lead and Pete Alonso, J.D. Martínez and Starling Marte knocking in the insurance runs in the club’s second five-run frame of this postseason.
The craziest thing about this 8th inning rally was that it’s gotten to the point where it didn’t even feel that crazy in the moment. We cheered, shouted and loved watching ever second of it, but incredibly enough it almost felt expected. That is where we’ve gotten to with this team.
It honestly feels like just a rare privilege and pleasure to be feeling this way about a baseball team that has delivered far more agita than euphoria over the years, and I feel like we’re all incredibly fortunate to get to experience this right now.
What we have in this team right now doesn’t come around often, and even if this franchise is on it’s way to sustainable success I’m not sure we’ll ever experience a year quite like what we’ve already seen so far. This ride that we’re on right now has the unique combination of talent, resilience and magic that you don’t see that often.
We got a taste of it in 2015 before we were out-magicked by the Royals, and we thought we had it in 2022 before everything fell apart at the end of the year. But this feels different. Regardless of what the final outcome winds up being, this feels like one of those teams you look back on with a warmth in your heart for decades. We’ve had enough unbelievable moments to live off of for a long time in this last week alone, and we’re not even done yet.
That’s what feels really exciting right now. We have gotten to the point where it’s impossible to put a ceiling or any sort of limitations on this team.
Maybe this rides come to an end at some point whether it be in this series, or the NLCS, or even the World Series. Or maybe, just maybe, this team can just win the whole fucking thing.
The sky is the limit, and the vibes are at level I don’t think we’ve experienced in a long, long time.
The Championship Chase 🏆
The Guardians jumped all over Tigers LHP Tyler Holton and blasted Detroit by a dominating 7-0 score
The Yankees survived a back-and-forth affair thanks to a go-ahead hit from Alex Verdugo after a controversial non-call on a replay review beating the Royals, 6-5
Dodgers DH Shohei Ohtani crushed the first postseason home run of his career as LA overcame a pair of deficits to defeat the Padres, 7-5
Dodgers LHP Clayton Kershaw was ruled out for the entirety of the postseason due to a bone spur in his left big toe
We'd be happy to have Zach back! One down, 2 to go!!
Magical moments