Mets' Francisco Lindor embraces big moment as he has all season
Francisco Lindor #12 of the Mets celebrates after defeating the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 4 of the National League Division Series at Citi Field on Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The fading lyrics of “My Girl” blended into the familiar “M-V-P” chants Francisco Lindor has been hearing at Citi Field since August when the shortstop strolled to the plate Wednesday night in the sixth inning.
The Mets, down 1-0, had loaded the bases for the third time, the two previous threats resulting in zero runs, and it was starting to feel late in Game 4 of this Division Series. A return trip to Philly was growing larger on the horizon, as was a rematch with Zack Wheeler in a winner-take-all Game 5 that loomed as the Mets’ toughest October test to date.
Once again, the moment had found Lindor, just as it did during much of the regular season, and especially in the now legendary Game No. 161, when his ninth-inning homer to beat Atlanta was the playoff clincher. Now it was a trip to the NLCS on the line, and the Mets again turned to Lindor.
The Phillies countered with their hard-throwing reliever Carlos Estevez, and his first three pitches were pure fire: 100.3 mph ... 100.1 ... 99.8.
So was the fourth, but Lindor swatted the 99-mph heater straight into the Phillies bullpen, the contact so loud that every one of the 44,103 fans knew where it was headed. This was a no-doubter, a 398-foot missile, and Lindor had done it again, lifting the Mets to a 4-1 victory and their first-ever champagne-spraying clincher at Citi Field.
Not to mention a ticket to the NLCS, as they await the winner of the Padres-Dodgers series. The last time the Mets got to throw a postgame party in Flushing for a trip to the NLCS was 2000 -- the year they met the Yankees in the Subway Series -- and Lindor has designs on bigger celebrations ahead.
“I want to win it all,” said Lindor, his 16-month-old daughter, Amapole, happily perched in his lap. “And ours will be a team that will forever be remembered. This will be a team that comes every 10 years and eats for free everywhere they go. And I want to do that. But the job is not done.”
Don’t forget. This didn’t happen overnight for Lindor. He’s been at this for a while. Steve Cohen’s first major trade as owner was wresting Lindor from the Guardians in January of 2021, then he cut him a gigantic check on the eve of Opening Day -- $341 million, the new record for a shortstop.
Cohen, the billionaire hedge-fund titan, viewed Lindor as the foundation of his new Mets, but the investment fluctuated in value over the subsequent years before skyrocketing during this MVP season. And you can’t put a price on what Lindor has done for the Mets these past weeks, or how he transformed Citi Field Wednesday night into the place Cohen imagined when he first purchased the team.
“He’s a great player,” said Cohen, surrounded by popping bottles and smiling Mets. “And that’s what great players do.”
Great doesn’t seem to adequately describe Lindor’s recent contributions. He already had the dragon-slaying homer in Atlanta on his resume, circling the bases with a cold-blooded gait, as Truist Park stared slack-jawed in disbelief. It was the shot heard ‘round the NL East, vaulting the Mets into the playoffs, and turned out to be an explosive start to an incredible week of dramatic, season-saving victories.
Who knew that it could be topped? But Lindor’s encore was the true show-stopper, as Wednesday’s grand slam -- the second of his postseason career (the other vs. the Yankees in Game 2 of the 2017 ALDS) -- brought the Flushing house down.
“I think the entire ballpark thought that’s what was going to happen tonight,” said president of baseball ops David Stearns. “And then to do it is just absurd. I mean it’s crazy. Absolutely crazy.”
With Lindor, the absurd, the crazy, is just another day ending in y. He makes the Lin-sanity almost routine. And to think Lindor was dangerously close to being a no-go for October after an aching back put him on the shelf for nearly two weeks of the stretch run. None of this should be possible, but the Mets wouldn’t be headed to the NLCS - or even in the playoffs to begin with - without Lindor’s heroics.
“He wants the big situations,” Brandon Nimmo said. “And he’s been one of the best I’ve ever seen this year in doing that -- coming up in big situations. Our season could have gone a lot of different ways, but he kept coming through every single time.”
Lindor is the embodiment of these cardiac Mets, a relentless group who take plenty of punches but always deliver the last one. He’ll tell you the roster is stacked with players capable of being "that guy" at any given moment, and he’s not necessarily wrong. But the surest thing in a Mets uniform this year is Lindor. Getting the Mets to this NLCS, and perhaps beyond, has been a four-year project in the making for Lindor, and the journey is a long way from over.
“It feels amazing to be able to continue to move forward,” Lindor said. “It's been an uphill fight. It's been tough. But we're still not where we want to be. This road, it's been curvy, but I wouldn't want it any other way.”
Neither would the Mets. As long as Lindor has a bat in his hands, with everything at stake.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.