The Mets believe their biggest comeback of 2024 is still ahead of them.
“If we come back from this, then it’s going to be a heck of a story. We’re going to be adding to that whole Grimace, OMG stuff,” Brandon Nimmo said after New York fell behind 3-1 in the NL Championship Series with a 10-2 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday night.
Earlier in the season, they had a rough start at 22-33 but managed to make the playoffs. They were close to being eliminated until Pete Alonso hit a three-run home run in the Wild Card Series against Milwaukee.
In the Division Series opener against Philadelphia, they scored five runs in the eighth inning and had a go-ahead grand slam from Francisco Lindor in Game 4 to win that series.
“It’s taught us a lot about our character and who we are in our identity as a team. We’re a super-resilient bunch, and we’ve had to pretty much answer the bell all year,” Alonso said. “The one word I can think of for the 2024 Mets other than Grimace is resiliency. That’s just who we are.”
Hoping to reach the World Series for the first time since 2015 and win their first title since 1986, New York has been outscored 30-9 by the Dodgers. Mets pitchers have walked 31 batters, and the team has struggled with runners in scoring position, going 4 for 29, including 0 for 11 in their last two losses.
Alonso is hitting .133 (2 for 15) without any RBIs, Nimmo is at .200 (3 for 15) with one RBI, and Lindor is hitting .250 (4 for 16) with one RBI.
“If you have no belief, you shouldn’t be here,” Lindor said. “You got to believe. You got to fight for what we want.”
David Peterson will make his first start since September 29, after appearing in six games in relief during the playoffs. “I feel ready to go as deep as necessary,” he said. “Looking forward to it and ready to give every pitch I have.”
Manager Carlos Mendoza chose not to give a big speech after the game, planning to share his thoughts on Friday instead.
“I’ll approach it the same way I have all year,” he said. “I’ll stop by the hitters’ meeting or the pitchers’ meeting, in smaller groups. But I definitely will say something.”
Los Angeles came back from a 3-1 deficit in the NL Championship Series in 2020 and went on to win the World Series. The Mets know this challenge is tough, but they believe it can be done.
“All the challenges we’ve faced this year give us hope,” Nimmo said. “We have experience with this, so it’s not new to us. We can do it.
This team is very capable. It’s a really good team. But it’s going to take everyone working together, and we need some good luck. We’ll need some balls to fall our way.”
Alonso, who can become a free agent after the World Series, said he isn’t thinking about the chance that Friday might be his last game with the Mets.
“I’m focused on trying to win for these guys. This group is really special, and it’s been a great time this year,” he said. “We’ve achieved a lot, but this will be a huge challenge, and I’m really excited to go into battle tomorrow with the guys in this clubhouse.”
