Mets enjoying the postseason party, and they plan on staying after Game 1 victory over Brewers
Ryne Stanek #55 of the Mets celebrates after beating the Milwaukee Brewers 8-4 in Game One of the Wild Card Series at American Family Field on Oct. 1, 2024 in Milwaukee. Credit: Getty Images/John Fisher
MILWAUKEE -- Mets owner Steve Cohen, by the definition of what the hedge-fund titan calls his “day job,” is in the prediction business. Judging by his $20 billion fortune, he’s apparently quite good at it.
So when Cohen says the Mets are capable of playing deep into October, we’re starting to think that maybe his confidence is not merely bravado from his team’s richest fan.
“This team can do it,” Cohen said after the Mets punched their playoff ticket Monday night in Atlanta. “They believe in themselves. Listen, anything’s possible.”
Cohen had a front-row seat at American Family Field for Tuesday night’s Game 1 of the Wild Card Series, only a few feet away from where manager Carlos Mendoza stood on the dugout steps, and both witnessed his Mets back up the giddy owner’s prophetic words once again.
Twice, the Mets rallied from deficits, silencing an enemy’s ballpark for the second time in as many days (even causing the Brewers to be booed by their nice Midwest fans). Starter Luis Severino, on the ropes early, somehow found the stamina to make it through six strong innings. He allowed four runs when it seemed like he’d surrender at least double that. Three were earned.
And, if the Brewers were hoping to benefit from a hangover effect, compounded by the Mets’ late-night return flight back to Milwaukee, they soon discovered this was a business trip for Mendoza & Co. Not a victory lap.
After local villain Jesse Winker’s tying two-run triple in the second inning triggered yet another comeback, and the previously slumping J.D. Martinez capped a five-run fifth with his own clutch two-run single, the Mets earned an 8-4 victory in Game 1 that will now have the champagne on ice -- again -- for a potential wild-card clincher Wednesday night.
“I think we're not satisfied,” Severino said. “We know the potential that we have in that clubhouse ... and we're going to fight. We're going to fight until the end, and hopefully that end is going to hopefully win the World Series.”
You read that correctly. Severino actually said World Series. And the way these Mets are playing, with their ability to shrug off any adversity -- or more like feed off the escalating pressure this time of year -- their momentum is legit. It was only logical to think the Mets would be drained by Monday’s emotional, epic win over Atlanta, a dragon-slaying victory that launched their playoff quest amid dozens of popping bottles.
But the exact opposite happened. After six months of giving every fiber of their being to proving themselves a playoff team, there’s no reason to sit on those accolades now. Once the champagne was rinsed from those road grays, and they reached for the coffee Tuesday morning in Milwaukee, the mission had changed.
“I knew we were in a good spot when we boarded the plane,” Mendoza said after Tuesday’s win. “You could tell right away our mentality was next day, next game. Not thinking too far ahead, continue to have that type of mentality that we've been having throughout the whole year -- one day at a time, one series at a time.”
As for Sevy’s bold World Series proclamation, here’s some calculus that makes a Mets’ return to the Fall Classic for the first time since 2015 not all that outlandish. We’ll start with the series at hand, as teams that win the wild-card opener are 14-2 in the 16 times a best-of-three has been played.
Beyond that, check out the math when it comes to wild-card clubs doing damage in October. Since MLB first introduced the wild card for the 1995 season, 16 of those entrants have reached the World Series, or 28.3% of the clubs to qualify for the Fall Classic.
Eight wild-card teams have won the World Series, including the Rangers last October -- when Texas beat the Diamondbacks, another wild-card club. The Mets are quickly showing they could have the makeup for that type of run after what they’ve plowed through already. Conquering those Atlanta demons seemed to recharge their stretch-run batteries rather than deplete them for a longer October push.
“Obviously, that was a grind there at the end, but you've just got to get into the playoffs -- just get to these games,” Martinez said. “The fans, the adrenaline, everything takes care of itself. It will get you up.
“As tired as we were and as tired as we were after the doubleheader, flying in and coming in and the crowd and the fans and just all the hype around the game, it just gives you the energy and gives you the life.”
The Mets didn’t play Tuesday like a wild-card team that needed Game No. 161 just to squeeze into October. They humiliated the 93-win Brewers, who ran away with the Central, by being better in every phase of the game.
Severino tiptoed through that early-inning minefield before getting into a rhythm that had him retire his final eight to finish. Jose Butto followed with two perfect innings in relief on a night when Edwin Diaz and Phil Maton were down. Mark Vientos’ two RBIs, the headfirst slide by the ever-hustling Jose Iglesias for an infield single that scored a run and kept that fifth-inning rally alive.
“It seems like he does that every game,” Francisco Lindor said of Iglesias.
The Mets are displaying the brand of baseball that wins in October. And keeps winning. They not only looked like they belonged here with Tuesday’s convincing victory, but performed like a team planning to stick around for a while.
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.