Mets slugger Pete Alonso is having a ball helping his team win in possible final ride

Pete Alonso gently carries the small pumpkin he picked in Milwaukee with him to Citi Field every day. He doesn’t want to leave it overnight in his locker, because he doesn’t want anything to happen to it. When he travels, it doesn’t go in his checked luggage “because it could be destroyed,” he said earnestly earlier this week.

On the surface, this could seem a little goofy. A burly first baseman known for hitting bombs didn’t blast a ball 432 feet Friday evening because of a magical gourd. The pumpkin wasn’t the thing that saved the Mets season from oblivion earlier this month — it was Alonso’s two-out, ninth-inning home run in the final game of the Wild Card series that did that.

But, like most of these little talismans, it’s far more nuanced than that, at least that’s what it sounds like when Alonso talks about this season, this postseason, and the uncertainty that surrounds his future. He treats it all with the same doting care.

“This is the most fun I’ve ever had in my life,” Alonso said earlier this month,  a sentiment that becomes more poignant when you consider that, with free agency looming, every game from here on out could be his last in a Mets uniform — the only one he’s ever known.

Not Friday, though. Not yet.

With one first-inning swing, Alonso set the tone for a rollicking 12-6 win over the Dodgers at Citi Field to send the NLCS back to Los Angeles with the Dodgers up 3-2. Francisco Lindor singled, Brandon Nimmo walked and, with one out, Alonso golfed a ball that he had no business hitting that far. Jack Flaherty’s 2-1 slider was 1.12 feet above the ground, making it the second-lowest pitch he’s hit for a homer in his career, and the second-lowest pitch hit for a homer in the postseason since pitch tracking began in 2008, according to statistician Sarah Langs. (The other, for what it’s worth, came courtesy of Daniel Murphy in the 2015 NLCS).

“It’s so special,” Alonso said after the game. “It’s storybook-like stuff like, when you grew up as a kid, you dream about that kind of stuff . . . Today was all about, ‘figure it out, get to Game 6.’ We had that opportunity and it’s going to be the same mentality. ‘Figure it out, get to Game 7’ – survive, survive the day.”

With the two this year, he’s now hit three homers in a game when the Mets are facing elimination, tied for John Olerud for most in franchise history. He went 2-for-3 with four runs and three RBIs Friday.

And so, his Mets uniform stays on. After Thursday’s dispiriting 10-2 loss, Alonso was asked if he thought about the fact that Friday could be his last time playing for this team (no matter how much he likes it here, there are no guarantees, and his agent, Scott Boras, is known for driving a hard bargain).

“Absolutely not,” he said. “I think for me, I’m so focused on trying to win for these guys. I mean, this group, it’s really special and it’s been an absolute blast this year. We’ve accomplished a lot, but this is going to be an incredible challenge and I’m really excited to go and battle with the guys in this clubhouse. This has been really fun, but we intend to keep our best foot forward and keep rising to the challenge.”

No matter what happens, though, there’s no doubt this has made a lasting mark. After a middling regular season that had fans disillusioned, Alonso flipped the narrative with that go-ahead homer in Milwaukee. By the time the Mets (finally) made it to their first home playoff game in the NLDS, he was greeted with chants of Pete Al-on-so; fans took to his new walk-up music, singing along to “American Pie” when he strode to the plate.

Before the game, Carlos Mendoza, a bench coach for the Yankees last season, was reminded of Aaron Judge’s walk year. Back then, Aaron Boone was adamant that he didn’t want the Yankees’ postseason exit to also signal the end of Judge’s time in pinstripes. Did he feel the same about Alonso?

“I'm not looking at it that way,” he said. “Nobody in here is looking at it that way. The way we see it is we've got to go out there and win a baseball game. I'm not seeing it as at this could be Pete Alonso's last game with the New York Mets.”

Added Alonso, when asked about the potential ticking clock on his Mets career: “I was pretty much just focused on competing . . . It’s about surviving to see another day until there’s no more baseball left.”

By the way, in case anyone was wondering, carved pumpkins only keep for a few days. Undamaged ones, though, can last for months. Alonso’s pumpkin is going to LA, uncarved and lovingly protected in his carry on, as he, and the Mets, play on.

There’s baseball left.

By Laura Albanese

laura.albanese@newsday.com@AlbaneseLaura

Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.