Being back at Citi Field wasn’t lost on Francisco Lindor.
Tuesday night’s NLDS Game 3 marked the star shortstop’s first home game in exactly one month, with plenty of drama breaking the Mets’ way over the last four-plus weeks to make a postseason return to Queens possible.
The long gap between home games was partly due to Lindor dealing with tricky lower-back discomfort that forced him to miss the Mets’ final regular-season homestand from Sept. 16-22.
The Mets then spent the next 16 days on the road — a whirlwind stretch that included clinching a playoff berth in Atlanta, winning their Wild Card series in Milwaukee and splitting the first two games of the NLDS against the Phillies in Philadelphia.
“It feels great to be back home, knowing that I’m going to play,” Lindor said Tuesday, less than five hours before the Mets were set to face the Phillies in Game 3. “Every day, I talk to the security guy when I first come in, and I haven’t seen him in a while. I said, ‘Finally, I get to play and we’re back home,’ so I’m very excited.”
Lindor’s last time playing at Citi Field came on Sept. 8, when the Mets were still in a dogfight for an NL Wild Card spot.
The 30-year-old tweaked an existing back injury five days later in Philadelphia and, upon trying to return to the lineup on Sept. 15, again left early after feeling discomfort on his way to first base on a leadoff single.
An MRI came back clean, but speculation about Lindor’s return ran rampant as he missed game after game during their subsequent homestand, even as the shortstop expressed confidence he would return.
“When I wasn’t playing, it was one of those [things] that I had to shift my mentality,” Lindor said Tuesday. “I felt like I was not being a good cloud in the clubhouse, because I was so aware of trying to get healthy and thinking a little too much and not smiling and having fun.”
At the time, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza encouraged the shortstop to remain upbeat, Lindor said.
“He was like, ‘Hey, I just want to make sure you’re smiling and you’re still trying to find comfort in where you are in life right now. It’s part of the process. We understand you want to get back and you want to get on the field. So, just go through it with a smile,’” Lindor recalled.
Lindor received a facet joint injection on Sept. 19 to expedite his return, and he ultimately made it back into the Mets’ lineup on Sept. 27.
Three days later, after Hurricane Helene forced the Mets and Braves to play a doubleheader a day after the season was supposed to end, Lindor delivered one of the biggest hits of the year. His go-ahead home run in the ninth inning of the first game that day proved to be the game-winner as the Mets clinched a playoff berth for the first time in two years.
Lindor has since started each of the Mets’ playoff games at shortstop and entered NLDS Game 3 with a .235 average, a .711 OPS and an RBI in 17 at-bats.
“No one that’s playing baseball right now is playing pain-free,” Lindor said. “We all have something happening. My back, it’s in a much, much better spot. I’m not even thinking about it at this point. I do go through a long [pregame] process … but I’m going through a long process because I’m trying to make sure I stay healthy. It’s not because it hurts me.”
Lindor hit .273 with 33 home runs, 91 RBI, an .844 OPS and 29 stolen bases in 152 games this season, establishing himself as an NL MVP candidate.
Beyond his production, Lindor’s leadership proved pivotal in the Mets’ season turnaround. After a May 29 loss to the Dodgers dropped the Mets a season-worst 11 games below .500, Lindor called a team meeting.
They 67-40 the rest of the way — and hope to keep their odds-defying season alive with more postseason magic.
“When it comes to just being in the position I am today, I’m just happy, excited,” Lindor said. “I’m blessed. Just enjoying the process.”
