Lindor, Mets Provide Rollercoaster Moment Fit For 2024

“This is the game that people are gonna talk about for years to come.

This is the game you’re gonna talk about.

There’s not a single person in this room who’s ever gonna be the same.

You be proud of yourselves. Because, gentlemen, you are champions.”

Those words were uttered by the iconic Coach Taylor in the beloved TV series Friday Night Lights. Granted, that speech was made to a fictional team in the wake of a heartbreaking loss in the State Championship game.

But, yet, those very words will no doubt resonate with every single person that resides in Mets land today. Because, and this isn’t being hyperbolic, Game 1 of the doubleheader against the Braves on Monday will live on in Mets lore forever. It is a heroic, almost mythical tale that will be passed on to generations and generations of Mets fans.

And that’s almost not doing it justice.

What we witnessed in the early portion of Monday is still hard to comprehend even after the dust has settled. For so much of Game 1, Mets fans were being forced to listen to the same old sad song they’ve had to listen to for years when it comes to the Braves. With everything on the line, their dreams were being crushed by the evil nemesis from Atlanta. Yet again.

For seven innings, New York was enduring a long, slow death by a thousand cuts thanks to a new Mets killer in Spencer Schwellenbach, who tossed seven innings of scoreless ball. As a result, the Braves headed into the final two innings armed with a 3-0 lead. With the bats going cold in a huge spot—again—it looked almost certain that the entire season was going to come down to a do-or-die Game 2.

Then the first of many, many, many brain-warping plot twists took place.

As if they suddenly flipped a switch, the offense found their groove and turned the game on its head with six monstrous runs in the eighth inning. Mets fans everywhere were experiencing a joyful wave of absolute euphoria—a sensation not felt by this fanbase in a long while.

ROLLERCOASTER MOMENT IN A ROLLERCOASTER YEAR

However, in a cruel twist of fate that could only happen to this franchise in Atlanta, the Braves hit right back and flipped the script once more. After an improbable rally by the home team, coupled with a meltdown by Edwin Díaz, Mets fans were on the verge of getting their hearts shattered into a million pieces by the Braves. Again.

Diaz and Phil Maton gave up four runs in the bottom half of the eighth, sending the Braves to the ninth with a one-run lead.

This is the year 2024, however, and we should all know by now that this current vintage of the Mets don’t like to do things the easy way. It’s almost as if they have to endure the very lowest of lows in order to make the highest of highs that much more special.

And that’s exactly why Francisco Lindor‘s clutch, heroic and legacy-sealing home run in the ninth inning will go down as one of the biggest hits in franchise history. Period.

There was something beautifully poetic about Lindor, the very heart and soul of this team, stepping up in the biggest spot of the entire year and delivering in the biggest way. Just as he has done all year long. In a Game 1 that had enough plot twists to make HBO drool, in arguably the biggest regular season game this organization has ever played in, it is only fitting that it was Lindor who had the final say in a game for the ages.

It was only fitting that it was Lindor who finally slayed the dragon and banished the ghosts once and for all in Atlanta.

And it was only fitting that it was Lindor who sent the Mets to the postseason.

After all, without Lindor, that rollercoaster of a Game 1 would never have happened. Without Lindor, this mesmerizing, inconceivable rollercoaster of a year wouldn’t have been possible.

As much as Monday’s implausible events in Atlanta were the very epitome of the Mets’ entire season, Lindor coming to his team’s rescue with everything on the line will tell the true story of the 2024 season in Queens.

SIGNATURE MOMENT

Lindor has been the one constant for this team all year long. He has carried this entire franchise on his back so much that his back actually gave out. He put aside his own early season struggles to hold a team meeting and act as the glue when everything around him was falling apart. And, more importantly, he elevated his own play and led a remarkable turnaround that will be talked about with reverence in Queens for years to come. The Mets were once 11 games under .500 and looked well and truly dead after the darkest of months in May. Yet, thanks to their heart and soul, their inspirational and unstoppable shortstop, this team became just the fourth team in major league history to start a season 0-5 and make the postseason.

No matter how many times we all thought the Mets might be dead, they always found a way to rise up and live to fight another day. And it was always Lindor leading the charge. Even after erasing lofty deficits in the Wild Card standings over the final month, this team looked to have run out of gas after imploding in the final week of the regular season. Three consecutive choke jobs looked to finally be the undoing of what was a miraculous run. But Lindor wasn’t having any of it. Despite playing through the pain with a broken down back, despite looking a shadow of his former self, the leader of this entire franchise led the way in a must-win game on Sunday. Then, in arguably the biggest at-bat of his entire career, Lindor produced the statement moment of the entire year on Monday.

In any other year, and were it not for the enduring brilliance of Shohei Ohtani, Lindor would have run away with the MVP.

Not that actual hardware really matters. Because, ultimately, thanks to his heroics on Monday, Lindor will always be this year’s MVP in the eyes and hearts of Mets fans everywhere. The role he played in the most incredible, thrilling of seasons will never, ever be forgotten in Queens.

He led this team back from the dead and guided them to the postseason, while playing a huge part in finally, finally slaying the dragon in the house of horrors that had inflicted so much pain and heartbreak on this fanbase.

In a wild season for the ages, Lindor was the one true stabilizing force right until the bitter end. And his signature moment to cap a signature year will stand the test of time.

Of course, this could be only the beginning for Lindor and this Mets team. They now have to shake off the emotion from Monday and get ready for a Wild Card game in Milwaukee on Tuesday. The Brewers are an imposing foe and these three games will be the toughest challenge of the entire year.

Although, given what we witnessed all year and then to the extreme on Monday, you’d be a fool to bet against these Mets at this point.

However, no matter what happens over the next few days, nobody can take Monday away from us. That day was one long in the making for Mets fans, especially those who have had to suffer under the yoke of the Braves for decades.

Even if New York’s postseason adventure ends at the first hurdle, we will always have that crazy, emotionally-charged, thrill-ride of a game in Atlanta. And the ultimate statement moment from the leader of this team that will live on in baseball lore forever.

A rollercoaster game fit for a rollercoaster season.

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