Francisco Lindor put the Mets on his back and led the team to an improbable playoff berth, belting a two-run, game-winning home run in the ninth inning in game one of Monday’s doubleheader to reverse years of Braves torture and seal a postseason appearance for just the 11th time in franchise history.
The heroic homer was Lindor’s 33rd of the year, and finished the season batting .273 with an .844 OPS and 91 RBI coming primarily out of the leadoff spot.
It was an MVP-type season that ended with as clutch a performance as Mets fans could have hoped for, and BT says it needs to be appreciated as such.
“He’s everything I wanted him to be and wasn’t sure that he was,” BT said. “This is who I thought the Mets were getting. Quite frankly, this is more than I thought the Mets were getting. I didn’t know he had this in him, even at the apex of his Cleveland days.
“To try to play with a bad back, when anything you do, one false move or twist…and to turn with the torque and explode and crank it 413 feet to will your team to the playoffs, it was heroic.”
Lindor’s awakening at the plate in 2024 directly paralleled the team’s turnaround, and after some prodding from Sal, BT was ready to admit that Lindor proved him wrong with an all-time season that was finished with one of the biggest home runs in Mets history.
“Salute. I cannot salute Lindor any more respectfully and aggressively than I did yesterday and I am right now,” BT said. “I was wrong. I will own that…I missed it by a mile, and he crushed it.”