Francisco Lindor’s poetic series-clinching slam for Mets floats into October history
NEW YORK — Every October legend needs a legendary October moment. For Francisco Lindor, this was that moment.
It’s amazing to try to understand what one swing of the bat can do: the stories it can write, the memories it can make, the reputation it can seal. But we saw all that happen Wednesday night at Citi Field.
We saw Lindor levitate a baseball through the Queens sky. And when it came down, nothing would be the same again.
There would be no NLDS Game 5 in Philadelphia on Friday, as Lindor’s bleacher-rattling grand slam in the sixth inning would close out this series, providing all four runs in a 4-1 Mets win for the ages.
No more would it be necessary for long-suffering Mets Nation to wait – year after frustrating year – for a memory like this, for a home run like this, for the euphoric series-clinching celebration that this wave of Lindor’s bat was about to to unleash.
And there would never be a time now, for the rest of his life, when people – his people – would ever wonder if their shortstop was a man ready for their city, for their dreams and hopes, or for moments like this one.
FRANCISCO LINDOR. BIG SLAM. #NLDS pic.twitter.com/CdKuEVOfT3
— MLB (@MLB) October 9, 2024
When a man hits home runs like this home run, they never really land. They float forever. But what made this home run so poetic was that the man who hit it had already reached the point where it felt like he was almost destined to do so.
“I think the entire ballpark thought this was going to happen,” David Stearns, the Mets’ president of baseball operations, said later, drinks spraying all around him in a rocking, rolling clubhouse. “But to do it then is just absurd. It’s crazy. Absolutely crazy.”
Hitting a grand slam in October that puts your team ahead is magical enough. But if you thought that was all, you’re not doing it justice. This was an all-time October longball fable. In fact, you could come pretty close to saying there’s virtually never been a postseason home run like this. That’s because…
It was a grand slam that sent his team to the NLCS. And in the history of postseason baseball, only two other men have ever hit a lead-flipping slam, in the sixth inning or later, in a game that clinched a series for their team. One was Shane Victorino, for the Red Sox, in Game 6 of the 2013 ALCS. The other was Devon White, for the 1997 Marlins, in the game that ended an NLDS sweep by the Giants.
It was a slam that was responsible for every point his team scored. But this is what sets Lindor’s stroke apart from all the others. How many men have ever hit a shot like that in a game that clinched a postseason series for the team? There would be no right answer, according to STATS Perform.
And it was the first postseason slam in his franchise’s history. This was actually the second late inning slam in Mets history to give them a lead in a postseason game. The other was Edgardo Alfonzo’s ninth-inning slam against the Diamondbacks in 1999. But that game was tied at the time. And it came in Game 1 of the Division Series, not the game that ended it. So… advantage Lindor.
But there was more than just a special historical context to this particular home run. It was the emotional context that felt even more powerful. As this baseball soared through the night, it carried the weight of all those years of Mets October anxiety, then let it loose in a rumble of cathartic thunder.
How long did Citi Field rattle and hum after this home run landed in the Phillies’ bullpen in deep right-center? Five minutes? Ten? Twenty? Or is it? still rattle? It was one of those rare sporting moments where you can tell people you didn’t just watch it. You felt it.
Francisco Lindor slams the door on the Phillies, sending the Mets to the NLCS. (Luke Hales/Getty Images)
Mets reliever Ryne Stanek was hanging out in his own bullpen when the baseball left Lindor’s launch pad. And as Stanek craned his neck to try to keep up, he was suddenly gripped by that breathtaking sensation people have when what they’re witnessing hits them.
“I said, ‘Oh my God, that’s gone,’” Stanek said. “And it was great.”
Sit back and listen as he tells the story of the joy this flying baseball unleashed in the Mets’ bullpen, even among men who play the game for a living.
“It’s just pure emotion,” he said. “Nothing else. As if no other thought can come to mind other than: What just happened? For example, there is no worry about anything else. You just see the ball going and eventually you see the ball go over the fence. And everyone’s like, ‘Holy (beep), that just happened.’ And it was incredible.
“It was absolutely incredible. That moment where everyone just lost it in the bullpen, and we were just a bunch of five-year-olds. It almost makes you a fan again. As if you’re not just looking at it. You live in the moment. So no one was worried about, oh, I have to (warm up) for the next inning, or anything else. It was just pure joy; people were just running around, not really knowing what to do, and just lost it.”
And they weren’t the only ones.
“I felt like Ricky Bobby,” said Pete Alonso, who was always there when you needed a good Will Ferrell “Talladega Nights” reference. “My hands were just in the air, just in awe. Just an incredible swing. I mean, that was the swing of a lifetime.”
Francisco Lindor and his Mets teammates celebrate an OMG moment they’ll never forget. (Brad Penner/Imagn Images)
No doubt these guys would have felt that no matter who was hit. But this wasn’t just a big home run from the 26th man on the depth chart. This was a stunner from a man who has kept the Mets going for weeks and months with his baseball genius – and whose passion for his sport, his team and his teammates has swept everyone around him along with him.
“He’s an MVP,” outfielder Jesse Winker said. ‘He carried us all year. It’s like every time there’s a big home run, he hits it. I don’t know how he stays so calm. He’s the MVP, he really is. I’m so proud of him. I’m so happy for him.”
Okay, so is Lindor not who will win the National League MVP award. Shohei Ohtani would probably always win. But Lindor’s back injury in September cost him just enough time to close that gap.
But does that really matter anymore on evenings like this? Let us tell you a few more facts about how special this home run was.
The Mets have been around for 63 seasons. They have played almost 10,000 regular season games. And in all those years and all those games, they’d only hit a late-inning grand slam once, in fact in a regular season game. Ike Davis hit that one on April 5, 2014, as they lost to the Reds in the ninth inning. But that was in April. This was a clinching night in October.
And this tops even with October’s stories not– hits. In the past ten postseasons, there have been only four other home runs of any size or form, in the sixth inning or later, that won a decisive game for the team that hit the ball.
Here are those four. You will remember them.
• 2019 World Series — Howie Kendrick (Nationals) by Zack Greinke (Astros)
• NLCS 2022 — Bryce Harper (Phillies) from Robert Suarez (Padres)
• 2022 World Series — Yordan Alvarez (Astros) vs. José Alvarado (Phillies)
• NLWC 2024 — Pete Alonso from Devin Williams (Brouwers)
(Source: Baseball Reference / Stathead)
So how’s that: five stunning lead flippers in a decade… and the Mets have hit two in the past week.
Hey, it’s been one of those years and one of those Octobers for a team involved in one of those magic carpet rides you don’t often see – especially not in Flushing. But just when you think they can’t possibly top the last moment, on an unforgettable Wednesday night in New York, a baseball shoots through the ozone layer. And everyone who saw it will talk about it for decades to come.
“That was such a special moment,” Stanek said, “for a guy who is so special to this team and so special to this city. I mean, that’s how you would write it if you could write the script. You know what I mean?
“Really, seriously, you have superstars on your team who come up big in those situations. And that’s why they earned that contract. They come out big at those moments. He’s just an incredible player, an incredible teammate, an incredible leader for us. And I couldn’t be happier for him. We couldn’t do any of that.”
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(Top photo: Brad Penner / Imagn Images)
