One year ago, the Mets were home watching the postseason, wondering how a team with a record payroll could have wound up being trade deadline sellers and out of the race by August.
High-priced starters who are certain first-ballot Hall of Famers were traded away, while hyped prospects like Mark Vientos and Brett Baty were not translating to the major leagues, leaving many to wonder what it meant for both the immediate and long term future of the organization.
Fast forward 365 days, and the Mets planted another flag in one of the most remarkable turnarounds this city has ever seen.
From arguably the most disappointing season in franchise history, the Mets are now writing one of their most memorable, having clinched an NLCS berth for the first time since 2015 after yet another dramatic home run. This time, it was Francisco Lindor blasting a grand slam to right center in the sixth inning to turn a 1-0 deficit into a 4-1 lead, sending Citi Field into a frenzy before New York clinched a playoff series in that home building for the first time ever.
“Don't know how to describe it,” Carlos Mendoza said of Lindor’s latest heroic blast. “You could write a book, you can make a movie because this is it right here.”
The same could be said about the Mets’ season as a whole. Coming off the heels of their most disappointing campaign since “The Worst Team Money Can Buy,” New York managed to take its middling expectations for the season, perform below them for months, then turn it on in a sprint to the finish that fans will remember forever. The road hasn’t ended yet, but it already boasts stops that include Lindor magic against the Braves in game 161, Pete Alonso redemption in the Wild Card Series, and now, a series victory over the division champs and hated rival Phillies, another team done in by a group that has caught fire at just the right time.
This was supposed to be the narrative for 2023. It took a year longer, and a lot of turnover that included a fired manager and a new president of baseball operations, but finally, the Mets are in the midst of a deep playoff run, with no intention of slowing down.
“I knew we had a good team, but this has been surreal,” Luis Severino said. “This has been unbelievable. At the beginning, it was clear that this wasn’t gonna be the year, the guys but night after night were fighting every day.”
Even as seemingly everyone around them penned them as a team destined to fall short of a postseason spot, even with the expanded playoff format, the Mets brass voiced their expectation of reaching October baseball, and that refrain continued after an 0-5 start, after the team fell to 11 games below .500 in May, and as they began their dash up the Wild Card standings until clinching on the final day of the regular season.
Perhaps even some believers couldn’t have expected this, as the Mets are now four wins away from a pennant in what has already become one of the most memorable, surprising seasons in franchise history.
"From the beginning nobody had us doing anything this year,” Mendoza said. “It was supposed to be a transition year, and we kept believing and we knew we had really good players.”