Was this how it was going to end for Pete Alonso in his Mets tenure? With free agency waiting for him whenever the Mets season ends, Alonso came to the plate in the ninth inning of an elimination game with his team trailing 2-0. He was facing one of the best closers in baseball in Devin Williams of the Brewers.
A double play would end the season and mean Alonso just went 1 for 9 in the playoffs in his last Mets series before he potentially signed a contract elsewhere. A strikeout would’ve been pretty bad and likely helped end the season as well.
Instead, the man who goes by the moniker “Polar Bear” muscled up with a twig in his paws and changed everything.
That, right there, is one of the biggest swings ever in the MLB playoffs. Alonso, with his three-run home run off Williams, became the first player in MLB history to hit a go-ahead homer in the ninth inning or later in a winner-take-all game with his team trailing.
And apparently deserving some of the credit? That would be Alonso’s good-luck charm, a “playoff pumpkin.”
Who can blame Alonso and his Mets teammates? They went on a tear after Grimace threw out the first pitch in Citi Field in June and everyone rallied around it. Get goofy. Winning makes everything feel fun and worthwhile.
The Mets have seen plenty of the other side during Alonso’s time anyway. This year is only the second time they have made the playoffs during his six-year MLB career. The other time, they blew a 10-game NL East lead and had to play in the Wild Card Series, losing in three games to the Padres.
Just this week, the Mets stared down elimination in the regular season and survived and, then, were pushed to the brink in the Wild Card Series. They were just two outs away from being sent home before Alonso’s big fly.
We’ve seen so many Alonso home runs before. He’s hit 226 in the regular season, including a Mets franchise record 53 his rookie year. In fact, he has three of the top six home run seasons in Mets history along with Carlos Beltrán, Todd Hundley and Hall of Famer Mike Piazza.
Not only that, but we’ve seen him hit plenty of bombs in Home Run Derbies, too. He won two of them and took part in three others.
It’s fair to say that while he does other things well, Pete Alonso is defined by the home run. That’s just how most people know him. The first time I ever spoke with him — the All-Star Game in 2019, his rookie year — I asked if he was aware of the Mets’ team record and not only did he know it off the top of his head, he said he wanted to break it that season. And he did.
While many sluggers try to distance themselves from being known as home run hitters — you’ll so often hear, “I’m not a home run hitter” from them — Alonso has never been shy about his biggest strength as a player. After all, how often do you see a player take part in five Home Run Derbies?
Through all of the big swings we’ve seen sending baseballs out over fences in so many different ballparks, under differing circumstances, the home run Thursday night in Milwaukee was the signature moment of his career. So far.
“It’s just really special,” he said in the clubhouse afterward (via MLB.com). “I’m just so happy to come through for the team right there.
“It’s just something that you practice in the back yard as a kid. … Words can’t explain it.”
There’s obviously still plenty of time to add onto that legacy here with the Mets moving to the NLDS. Alonso and his teammates want a World Series ring. Alonso has said he wants to stay with the Mets instead of signing elsewhere. Time will tell.
Right now, that swing was the biggest moment of Alonso’s career and could well go down as a signature moment in Mets history.
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