MILWAUKEE — These Mets seem to come through when they absolutely have to, and once again, they are at that scary point.
The Mets authored some very big wins throughout a mostly magical year. But now they finally have a game that can only be called a must-win.
Technically, they needed all 89 of their regular season victories to punch their ticket to October. But they face their very first actual elimination game Thursday. A deciding winner-take-all Game 3 in this wild-card series is upon us, made necessary after the Mets blew a late lead and lost 5-3 here Wednesday.
“We’ve been knocked down. And we have the ability to get right back up,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “And here we are.”
It isn’t going to be easy.
The Brewers have a lot going for them, and now they have momentum, too. They outplayed the Mets in the standings and on the field throughout this season, beating them five games out of six, but this series was looking a lot different at the start.
The Mets actually outperformed the Brewers the first 16 innings of this series, winning Game 1 and leading into the eighth inning of Game 2. Nevertheless, the Brewers evened this series late, thanks to eighth-inning home runs by 20-year-old rookie Jackson Chourio (his second of the night) and Garrett Mitchell off reliever Phil Maton.
Mendoza said afterward he did have star closer Edwin Diaz available. But he only had him for an inning, at most. So Maton, who has thrown solid baseball since coming to the Mets in mid-July, got the ball for the eighth.
When Maton entered, the Mets held a one-run lead and were so close to arranging their travel to Philly for the Division Series with the Phillies. They were ready to change out cheese land for cheesesteaks.
What’s more, they were beating the Brewers at their own game, outplaying them on defense and on the basepaths.
But ultimately, the Brewers overwhelmed the Mets with the long ball.
The Mets made a lot of magic this year. This is the time for some more of that.
They came back from their 0-5 start to the season and a dreadful early May that left them at 22-33. They finally earned their playoff berth on the day after the final regularly scheduled day of the season, technically game No. 161. There was no room to spare, and they survived in Atlanta, historically their town of terror.
That they got to October by defeating their demons and winning a game in their least favorite place down south speaks well for them. Now they will have to do it in what might be their second-least favorite place.
There’s no panic in this Mets team. There can’t be any now.
They came back so many times, even on this trip which might have killed off a lesser bunch. Their trip started with a defeat at Atlanta before they lost two games to Hurricane Helene. (Ultimately, that may have helped them since they were delayed until the end of the regular season, meaning a split triggered a rare dual celebration.)
There were comebacks to come. Game No. 161 was a classic.
They came back twice in that one. After a bullpen blowup by Diaz, they had to do it a second time. That time it was their MVP, Francisco Lindor, the star of the season, who provided the magic.
His two-run home run into the Atlanta night may have been the biggest in the 63-year history of the franchise. Lindor’s drive also put a punctuation mark on a season for the ages. They hope that’s only a happy comma in a continuing season, that an exclamation point is yet to come.
The Mets played a lot of games that seemed like must-win games. And technically, they all were, as they only made it to October via the tiebreaker, which was their 4-2 series record versus the Diamondbacks. But this one absolutely is.
“I’m excited for the challenge,” Pete Alonso said. “This is what it’s about.”
There are a lot of positive signs. They are perpetually calm.
They are the same, win or lose. They showed no panic all year. There’s no reason to think they will now. But there is plenty of reason to worry, too, and it starts with the bullpen that’s caused some serious agita at times.
Just as worrisome, Diaz may not have much left. When Game 2 was tied up by Chourio’s opposite-field bomb, Diaz wasn’t warming. Adam Ottavino was.
Diaz threw 66 pitches Sunday and Monday, and while the Mets said Diaz was ready to go, apparently it was only slightly.
“He was available,” Mendoza said. “We just didn’t get to him.”
But even if Diaz is ready Thursday for the deciding game, who knows what they’ll get?
He did not look particularly solid in Game 1 Monday when he needed to try to maintain a lead twice, and finally did.
He insisted to Mendoza he was staying in after Lindor hit his fateful homer. And so he did. But does he have any bullets left now?
Do the Mets?
We will find out Thursday.
