Even before the Mets won Game 3 on Tuesday night, Jose Quintana thought that Wednesday’s Game 4 would be the most important start of his career – whether it was trying to put the Mets into the NLCS, as he will be doing, or trying to keep the magic going for one more night.
That’s because, just like every game they’ve played over the last two weeks or so, the Mets are gonna treat Game 4 like a must-win.
“I think at this point every game is Game 7 for me, and for all of my teammates. We've been fighting a lot in all situations. Every play, every game means a lot,” Quintana said Tuesday afternoon. “It’s going to be a privilege to get that chance playing in front of our fans. It's been a while since we've been here. It’s an amazing opportunity, and I will do my best.”
Quintana is in his 13th MLB season, and outside of one absolute clunker in the 2017 NLCS, he’s been lights-out in October: no runs allowed and a 0.67 WHIP in 19 1/3 innings over four other appearances.
Game 3 of the NL Wild Card Series against the Brewers is one of those outings, too, so this is now the second time he’ll have gone to the mound this October with a chance to pitch his team into the next round.
“My approach never changes: use the best effort. We have a good scouting report, good plan to make it,” Quintana said. “Start it right away and do our best, because every single pitch is going to be really important.”
Especially because he faced basically the same Phillies team in the 2022 NL Wild Card Series while with St. Louis, and he remembered what that team did if you gave them even the slightest hint of rope.
“I remember that start in St. Louis. It was a great game; almost similar lineup, and they are pretty good. I’ve faced these guys a lot, and for sure it’s a challenge,” Quintana said. “But this is part of the postseason.
Every team you're going to face is going to be a really good team. We have really good rivalry, so that's important for us, and it means a lot. It's going to be a special game.”
And if he can win it? Well, just another big moment in a stretch run full of them for Quintana, who didn’t know if he would be back in 2024 after an injury-plagued 2023 – and doesn’t know what his future holds beyond this season as he enters free agency at age 3x.
“I made some adjustments in my mechanics, getting my angle up to give me more chances to have my pitches go in the same tunnel and get more consistency, and it led to better results,” Quintana said of this season, adding this of the future: “I just try to go back and remember all the good moments, try to use it to the present and be just in that moment. I just want to enjoy this. I’ve been in this situation before and I just want to keep playing. As I said before, it's a privilege to get the ball.”