MLB: Mets reach playoffs, beat Braves to cap comeback

The New York Mets celebrate in the locker room after clinching a playoff berth with a victory in the first game of a doubleheader against the Atlanta Brave in the MLB, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jason Allen)

ATLANTA— These New York Mets know a thing or two about comebacks.

They saved their best one for the final day of the regular season.

Overcoming deficits of 3-0 in the eighth inning and 7-6 in the ninth, they clinched a playoff berth when Francisco Lindor’s two-run homer capped a thrilling 8-7 win over the Atlanta Braves in the opener of a makeup doubleheader Monday.

That was only fitting for a team that started 0-5 and hardly looked like postseason material when it slipped 11 games under .500 in late May.

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“Everybody had us out, even before the year started, and here we are, man,” rookie manager Carlos Mendoza said.

New York lost the nightcap 3-0, but it hardly mattered. Pete Alonso and the Mets had already locked up the 11th postseason appearance in team history, advancing to a best-of-three NL Wild Card Series starting Tuesday at Milwaukee.

“We’re a franchise that hasn’t had enough of these moments,” first-year president of baseball operations David Stearns said during the champagne party in the clubhouse following the twin bill. “We’ve got more work to do. I don’t think anyone in here is satisfied with just one celebration.”

New York Mets’ Francisco Lindor, left, Jose Iglesias, left center, David Peterson, right center, and Brandon Nimmo, right, celebrate in the dugout after taking the lead in the eighth inning of an MLB game against the Atlanta Braves, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jason Allen)

Lindor, who returned Friday from a back injury that had sidelined him since Sept. 15, came through with the big hit, launching a drive into the Braves bullpen off Pierce Johnson.

“In slow motion it felt like,” Lindor said. “Emotion. Emotion. It felt like I got the pitch that I wanted. And you never know if the ball is going to go out or not but I feel like I got it 100%. We’re one step closer. Now we’ve got to finish it. Finish, finish, finish.”

Asked what he was thinking when he rounded the bases, Lindor said: “My back hurts. I’m tired. I know how good Atlanta is.”

New York had lost 77 straight games when trailing by three runs in the eighth inning or later since May 17, 2023.

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“I’ve never seen a game like that. It was just a total rollercoaster,” owner Steve Cohen said. “I had tears in my eyes when we went ahead and then I was in shock when we fell behind. And then Francisco, just a big-boy moment, rises to the occasion. I mean, he must have dreamt of that as a kid.”

It was a throwback to 1973, when the Mets also clinched a playoff spot on the day after the season was supposed to finish. Back then, they beat the Chicago Cubs 6-4 to secure the NL East title.

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“These are special moments. You’ve got to enjoy these moments,” said Stearns, who grew up a Mets fan in New York City. “This is the standard of where we should be.”

This year, a 10-3 loss to the Dodgers on May 29 completed a three-game Los Angeles sweep at Citi Field by a combined 18-5. New York dropped to 22-33 in its first season under Mendoza and was six games out of the last wild-card slot, needing to overcome seven teams.

Lindor called a players-only meeting. As players explained it, the Mets aired some issues in the clubhouse that day and committed themselves to positivity, effective preparation and a team-first approach dedicated to helping each other and winning games.

“We just opened the floor and talked about ways we can turn it around,” outfielder Brandon Nimmo said then. “Just felt like a boiling-over point.”

Since then, with Lindor leading the charge, they have the best record in the majors at 67-40 while outscoring opponents 541-433.

“It’s been an uphill fight,” Lindor said. “We put ourselves in a big hole and we kept climbing and kept climbing. We kept our shoulders above water. After the All-Star break, you know, we never believed that we were drowning.”

One of New York’s biggest concerns going into the Wild Card Series is the availability of star closer Edwin Díaz, who recovered from a blown save to get the win in the doubleheader opener. The right-hander has thrown 66 pitches over the past two days.

But the Mets haven’t been deterred all season.

“Nobody thought back in April outside of this clubhouse that we were going to make the playoffs, that we had any shot,” Nimmo said. “We were able to go out and go through really, really tough times and find ourselves on the other side and pull ourselves up and really rally together and have each other’s backs and be able to culminate in this.”

Baseball’s biggest spenders since Cohen bought the team ahead of the 2021 season, the Mets won 101 games in 2022 and reached the playoffs only to lose a three-game Wild Card Series at home to San Diego. The Mets sank to 75-87 last year, when they had a record $319.5 million payroll and were assessed a record $100.8 million luxury tax.

They began this year as the top spender again at a projected $321 million, including $70 million in payments to teams covering salaries of traded players Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander and James McCann. Their projected luxury tax was $83 million.

After the win in the doubleheader opener, Cohen posted on X: “Have you ever seen a game like that? I am so proud of this team. Met fans, go out and celebrate.”

“This was such a massive group effort,” Alonso said. “We earned it.”