It’s an emotional roller coaster being a Mets fan, and the Thursday night game proved it. Going into the ninth inning, it felt like the magic was over. Sure Jose Quintana had a stellar outing, but it didn’t matter because the Mets looked lifeless on offense. Outside of Francisco Lindor, not a single Met had a hit. It seemed like another example of the Mets not showing up in a winner-take-all game. Once the ninth inning rolled around Met fans had accepted their fate. Some had even started turning on players like Pete Alonso.
However, Lindor was able to breathe some life into the Mets when he drew a leadoff walk. Then after a Mark Vientos strike-out, Brandon Nimmo lined a single into right, putting runners at the corner, with the aforementioned Alonso coming up. After working a three-one-count, Alonso got a hold of a pitch to cement himself as a Mets legend.
THE POLAR BEAR!!!!!!!! ARE YOU KIDDING RIGHT NOW???? pic.twitter.com/cBxKzRDp1K
— x – New York Mets (@Mets) October 4, 2024
This is the first time in MLB history, that a team trailing in ninth got a go-ahead home run in a winner-take-all game. This caused Mets fans to explode with joy, as they couldn’t believe what they were watching.
CITI FIELD CAN'T BELIEVE IT #POSTSEASON pic.twitter.com/uxNcG5bcRd
— MLB (@MLB) October 4, 2024
This is Alonso Met’s moment. When his career is over, and we look back on it, the first moment people will bring up this. The home run to give the Mets the lead, and help them advance to the NLDS. It is something straight out of a Disney movie. The star player, who had been in the worst slump of his career, broke out of it by hitting the biggest home run of the season. The home run also changes Alonso’s entire future.
Alonso Brand New Future
Rest of the Postseason
As mentioned before, Alonso was in the middle of the worst slump of his career. Before his heroics in Game 3, his last home run game was on September 19th against the Phillies. He hadn’t even had an extra-base hit since then. Even though Alonso said the slump didn’t bother him, you know it was taking a toll. He is one of the main pieces in the lineup. The fact that he couldn’t help the team the way he wanted was probably eating him alive.
However, the home run gets that monkey off his back. The outside pressure from the fanbase and media is gone. They aren’t going to bring up the slump, or keep updating the amount of at-bats it’s been since he last went yard. He can now go up to the plate more relaxed and not do things like overswing or chasing pitches. A more relaxed approach could get Pete going, and get him to be the hitter we know he can be. If Alonso starts hitting to his full potential, the Mets become a much more dangerous team and can go toe to toe with anyone left in the postseason.
Pending Free Agency Decision
What this home run impacts the most is Alonso’s future. If you’d been following the Mets all season you know that it was a contract year for Alonso. And he had one of the worst contract seasons a player could have. Instead of it being a lock for him to be a Met for life, now seemed like it was 50/50 if he would stay or go. Do the Mets want to give a long-term contract to a player that had been regressing the past two seasons?
However, with this career-defining moment, the Mets have to do everything in their power to bring Alonso back next season. It doesn’t matter what happened, this is one of the few cases where it’s ok to overpay for a player. Sure Alonso isn’t as good as he was in his rookie season. But, he’s still a really good power hitter. He also has a chance to do something, very few have done. That is a guy to start and finish his career with the Mets. David Wright and Ed Kranepool are the only players to have successful careers, while only playing for the Mets. The home runs make it more likely that Alonso can join this list. You can’t let a franchise player walk, especially after a moment like that. You need to do whatever it takes to bring him back and keep him in the orange and blue until he calls it a career.
Thanks for reading! Credit for my feature image to Aaron Gash. You can find more MLB content at Belly Up Sports and follow me on Twitter/X.
