Francisco Lindor's epic series-clinching slam for Mets makes October history

NEW YORK – Every October legend needs a Legendary October moment. For Francisco Lindor, it 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 create, the fame it can seal. But we saw all of that happen Wednesday night at Citi Field.

We saw Lindor send a baseball soaring through the Queens sky. And when it comes down to it, nothing will ever be the same.

There will be no NLDS Game 5 Friday in Philadelphia, as Lindor's grandstand-rattling sixth-inning grand slam ends the series, delivering four runs in a 4-1 Mets victory for the ages.

No longer will Mets Nation need to wait — year after year of frustration — for memories like this, for a home run like this, for this wave of Lindor's at-bats to be unleashed for an exhilarating series-clinching party.

And now there won't be a time, for the rest of his life, when people — his people — will ever question whether their shortstop is a man who was ready for their city, their dreams and hopes, or a moment like this.

Francisco Lindor. Grand Slam. #NLDS pic.twitter.com/CdKuEVOfT3

— MLB (@MLB) October 9, 2024

When a man hits a home run like this one, they never come down. They float forever. But what made this house so poetic was that the man who struck it had already reached the point where it seemed as if he was almost scripted to do so.

“I think the whole ballpark thought this was what was going to happen,” the Mets' president of baseball operations, David Stearns, would say later, as drinks were sprayed around him in a swaying, swirling clubhouse. “But to do it then, is just absurd. It's crazy. Absolutely crazy.”

Hitting a grand slam in October is magical enough to propel your team forward. But if you think that was all, you are not doing it justice. It was an all-time October long-ball fable. You can come pretty close, in fact, to making a case that there hasn't been a postseason home run like this one. This is because…

It was a grand slam that sent his team to the NLCS. And in postseason baseball history, only two other men have hit lead-flipping slams in the sixth inning or later, in games that won 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 of the Giants.

It was a slam that accounted for every run of his team. But here's what sets Lindor's Slam apart from all the others. How many men have ever hit a slam like that in a postseason series winning game for the team? According to STATS Perform, the correct answer would be none.

And it was his first lead-flipping postseason slam in franchise history. It was actually the second late-inning slam in Mets history to give them the lead in a postseason game. The other was Edgardo Alfonzo's ninth-inning slam against the Diamondbacks in 1999. But that game was a tie. And it came down to Game 1 of the Division Series, the game wasn't over. So … advantage Lindor.

But there was more to this particular home run than a special historical context. It was the emotional context that felt more powerful. As this baseball soars through the night, it carries the weight of all those years of Mets October angst, then releases them in cathartic thunder.

How long did Citi Field rumble and buzz after that home run landed in deep right-center in the Phillies' bullpen? Five minutes? Ten? twenty? Or is still Ruckus? It's one of those rare sports moments that lets you tell people you didn't watch it. You have experienced it.

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 track of it, he was suddenly gripped by that suffocating sensation people get when what they see hits them.

“I said, 'Oh my God, it's gone,'” Stanek said. “And it was amazing.”

Sit back and listen to him tell the story of the joy that this flying baseball unleashed in the Mets bullpen, even among the men who play the game for a living.

“It's just pure emotion,” he said. “Nothing else. As no other thought crosses your mind: What just happened? Like, don't worry about anything else. You just watch the ball go and eventually, you can see the ball go over the fence. And everyone's like, 'Holy (bleep), that just happened.' And it was incredible.

“It was absolutely incredible. That moment where everyone lost in the bullpen, and we were just a bunch of 5-year-olds. It almost brings you back as a fan again. Like you're just not seeing it. You live in the moment. So no one was worried, oh, I have to (warm up) for the next inning, or anything. It was just pure joy — people just running around, not knowing exactly what to do, just getting lost.”

And they weren't alone.

“I felt like Ricky Bobby,” says Pete Alonso, ever present when you need a good Will Ferrell “Talladega Nights” reference. “My hands are just, like, in the air, just in awe. Just an incredible swing. I mean, it was the swing of a lifetime.”

Francisco Lindor's epic series-clinching slam for Mets makes October history

No doubt these guys felt it no matter who it hurt. But it wasn't just a big home run by the 26th man on the depth chart. It was an outburst by a man who for weeks, months has epitomized the Mets with his brand of baseball talent — and whose passion for his game, his team and his teammates has rubbed off on everyone around him.

“He's an MVP,” outfielder Jesse Winker said. “He's 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 am very proud of him. I'm very happy for him.”

OK, so is Lindor no That's going to win the National League MVP award. Shohei Ohtani is probably always going to win it. But Lindor's back injury in September cost him enough time down the stretch to seal it.

On nights like this, though, does it really matter anymore? Let's hit you with a few more tidbits about just how special this home run was.

The Mets have been around for 63 seasons. They have played nearly 10,000 regular-season games. And in all those years and all those games, only once did they even hit a lead-flipping late-inning grand slam. In regular season games. Ike Davis hit it on April 5, 2014, when they had a run down the Reds in the bottom of the ninth. But that was in April. It was a clinch night in October.

And this is even with October's storied non– Slum In the past 10 postseasons, only four lead-flipping home runs of any shape or form have come in the sixth inning or later, winning the series-clinching game for the team that hit it.

Here are those four. You remember them.

• 2019 World Series – Zack Greinke (Astros) to Howie Kendrick (Nationals)

• 2022 NLCS – Bryce Harper (Phillies) Robert Suarez (Padres)

• 2022 World Series – Jose Alvarado (Phillies) to Jordan Alvarez (Astros)

• 2024 NLWC – Devin Williams (Brewers) to Pete Alonso

(Source: Baseball Reference / Stathead)

So how about: Five stunning lead-flippers in a decade… And the Mets hit two of them last week.

Hey, it's that kind of year and that kind of October for a team caught on one of those magic carpet rides that doesn't come along very often — especially in Flushing. But just when you thought they couldn't possibly top it at the last minute, a baseball rocketed through the ozone on an unforgettable Wednesday evening in New York. And those who have seen it have been talking about it for decades.

“It was a special moment,” Stanek said, “for a guy who's special to this team and special to this city. I mean, if you could write the script, you'd want to write it. You know what I mean?

“Like, seriously, you have superstars on your team who thrive in situations like this. And that's why they got that deal. They grow up in that moment. He's just an incredible player, an incredible teammate, an incredible leader for us. And I couldn't be happier for her. We all couldn't.”