The scoreboard at Citi Field flashed a sign immediately after the Mets knocked the Philadelphia Phillies out of the postseason with a 4-1 win Wednesday night. It read “NLCS BOUND” and featured images of Francisco Lindor, Brandon Nimmo and Pete Alonso. The three franchise faces on a scoreboard so large that passengers on LaGuardia-bound planes could see it on the descent.
This is what the Mets envisioned when they built around the trio, but it wasn’t always easy for others to see what Steve Cohen and Sandy Alderson saw. There was discord, tumult, big wins and even bigger losses.
It’s why this playoff run means so much for them.
“We’ve all been able to pull for each other,” Nimmo said. “We’ve been able to laugh with each other and cry with each other and love on each other and fail together and succeed together.”
Not everyone saw Nimmo becoming an All-Star caliber outfielder. Maybe the leadership qualities were always there, but Nimmo toiled in the minor leagues for nearly seven seasons before forcing the Mets to play him in the big leagues. That’s not what you want from a first-round draft pick.
Nimmo came from a state that didn’t even have high school baseball. He didn’t have the pedigree of a California-born prospect, or Texas-born prospect, or any prospect born in a warm-weather state. He was too injury-prone, he didn’t have the defensive abilities to play center field, or the arm to play right field and he didn’t have enough power in his bat — he heard it all and chose not to listen.
Maybe that’s what bonded him to Alonso and Jeff McNeil.
Alonso was told he didn’t have the body for the big leagues and well, who wants a right-handed first baseman anyway? McNeil was never a prospect. His first sport wasn’t even baseball, it was golf. But a bad performance at the U.S. Amateur had him rethinking his sports future, and he took one of the only scholarships offered to him from Long Beach State, a program with a quirky nickname (the Dirtbags) and a history of churning out scrappy big leaguers like McNeil.
Nimmo, Alonso and McNeil all came up through the Mets’ minor league system and became elite players for the Mets. They’ve spent most of their adult lives wearing a Mets uniform. But every year, they had to watch as their former Mets teammates and former college teammates had the kind of success they worked towards until now.
“We’re the homegrown players on this team, along with Dave Peterson and a few others,” McNeil said. “But coming through this organization and being here since 2013, it means a lot. This is all I know.”
McNeil wasn’t with the Mets when they clinched a playoff berth in Atlanta and he wasn’t with them in Milwaukee for the Wild Card round. The Mets let him go home to California to rehab his fractured wrist while his wife, Tatiana, waited out the final weeks of her pregnancy with the couple’s second child, a daughter named Serena who was born the day after the Mets eliminated the Brewers.
However, McNeil is hoping to play in the NLCS now that his wrist is healed. He’s heading to Arizona on Thursday to play in Fall League games in anticipation of the next round. He’ll get into a few games, then head to California, get in a quick visit with Tatiana and the kids, and then meet the Mets in either San Diego or Los Angeles to begin the next round.
Alonso was happy to have his close friend back for a proper playoff celebration and a “champagne shower.”
“He’s our squirrel,” Alonso said. “We’ve had so much history together, and to be able to share this moment with him, it’s really special.”
The trio needed Lindor to tie it all together. He was already established when he got to Queens and didn’t have to prove doubters wrong to get here, but he’s an MVP-level talent that put the Mets over the top. It was his home run that clinched a postseason trip for the Mets, and his home run that sent them to the NLCS. It’s the leadership of Lindor and Nimmo that keeps the Mets moving forward every time they threaten to stall.
Back page for Oct. 10, 2024: Lindor’s grand slam in sixth inning sends Citi Field into frenzy and Mets into NLCS. In a season filled with big moments, Francisco Lindor delivers his biggest yet, hitting a grand slam to lift the Mets past the Phillies, 4-1, and into the NLCS.
“I want to win it all,” Lindor said. “Ours will be a team that will forever be remembered.”
This memorable team may not be together much longer. While Nimmo, Lindor and McNeil are locked up long-term, Alonso will be a free agent following the World Series. It’s tough for fans to imagine the Mets without the Polar Bear, but it’s even tougher for his longtime teammates.
If this is their last ride, they’re making sure it counts.
“We’ve been around a long time and this is really sweet for us because things that come harder, you enjoy them more,” Nimmo said. “The things you have to wait for and be patient with, and you have to learn and go through lessons — they just mean that much more. When things come easy, that’s great, but it doesn’t mean quite as much.”
