Francisco Lindor's poetic, game-winning slam for the Mets will go down in October history

NEW YORK – Every October legend needs a legendary October moment. For Francisco Lindor, this was that moment.

It's amazing to understand what a swing of the bat can do – what stories it can write, what memories it can evoke, what reputations it can seal. But we saw it all on Wednesday night at Citi Field.

We saw Lindor float a baseball through the Queens sky. And when it came, nothing would be the same again.

There would be no NLDS Game 5 in Philadelphia on Friday, as Lindor's magnificent grand slam in the sixth inning would wrap up this series with all four runs scored in a 4-1 Mets win for the ages.

There would no longer be a need for long-suffering Mets Nation to wait — year after year — for a memory like this, for a home run like this, for the euphoric Series-winning party that this wave of Lindor's bats would unleash.

And for the rest of his life, there would never be a time when people – his people – would ever question whether their shortstop was a man who was ready for their city, for their dreams and expectations, or for moments like this .

FRANCISCO LINDOR. Grand Slam. #NLDS pic.twitter.com/CdKuEVOfT3

– MLB (@MLB) October 9, 2024

When a man hits home runs like this home run, he never really comes down. They float forever. But what made this home run so poetic was the fact that the man who hit it had already reached the point where it felt like he was almost obligated to do it.

“I think the entire ballpark thought this was going to happen,” Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns said later, as drinks splashed around him in a rocking, rolling clubhouse. “But to do it then is just absurd. It's crazy. Absolutely crazy.”

Hitting a grand slam in October that gives your team a leg up is magical enough. But if you thought that was all, then you aren't doing it justice. This was an all-time October longball fable. In fact, one might come close to saying that there has almost never been a postseason home run like this. This is because…

It was a grand slam that sent his team to the NLCS. And in the history of postseason baseball, only two other men have ever hit a lead-flipping slam in the sixth inning or later in a game that won their team the series. 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 capped an NLDS win over the Giants.

It was a slam that accounted for every run his team scored. 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 game that sealed the team's postseason series? According to STATS Perform, the correct answer would be none.

And it was the first post-season slam in his franchise's history to change the lead role. This was actually the second late-inning slam in Mets history to give them a lead in a postseason game. The other was Edgardo Alfonzo's ninth-inning slam against the Diamondbacks in 1999. But that game was tied at the time. And it came in Game 1 of the Division Series, not the game that ended it. So…advantage Lindor.

But there was more than just a particular historical context for this particular home run. It was the emotional context that felt even stronger. As that baseball flew through the night, it carried the weight of all the years of Mets October fear and then released it in a cathartic rumble of thunder.

How long did Citi Field rattle and hum after that home run landed deep in right-center in the Phillies' bullpen? Five minutes? Ten? Twenty? Or is that it? Despite it Rattle? It was one of those rare sports moments where you can tell people you didn't just see it. You felt it.

Francisco Lindor slams the door on the Phillies and sends the Mets to the NLCS. (Luke Hales/Getty Images)

Mets reliever Ryne Stanek was hanging out in his own bullpen as the baseball left Lindor's launch pad. And as Stanek moved his neck to keep track, he was suddenly struck by the breathtaking feeling people have when they experience what they see.

“I said, ‘Oh my God, it’s gone,” Stanek said. “And it was incredible.”

Sit back and listen as he tells the story of the joy that flying baseball brought to the Mets' bullpen, even among men who play the game for a living.

“It’s just pure emotion,” he said. “Nothing else. No other thought comes to your mind than: What just happened? So there is no concern about anything else. You just see the ball flying, and finally you see the ball flying over the fence. And everyone goes, “Holy (bleep), that just happened.” And it was unbelievable.

“It was absolutely incredible. That moment where everyone in the bullpen just lost it and we were just a bunch of five-year-olds. It almost makes you want to be a fan again. Like you're not just looking at it. You live in the moment. So no one was worried about, oh, I have to (warm up) for the next inning or anything else. It was just pure joy – people were just running around, not knowing exactly what to do and just losing track.”

And they weren't alone.

“I felt like Ricky Bobby,” said Pete Alonso, always there when you need a good reference to Will Ferrell’s “Talladega Nights.” “My hands were just in the air, just in awe. Just an incredible swing. I mean, that was the swing of my life.”

Francisco Lindor and his Mets teammates celebrate an OMG moment they will never forget. (Brad Penner/Imagn Images)

No doubt these guys would have felt it no matter who hit it. But this wasn't just a big home run from the 26th man on the depth chart. This was a lot of fun for a man who has been elevating the Mets for weeks, for months, with his baseball genius – and whose passion for his sport, his team and his teammates has swept everyone around him.

“He’s an MVP,” outfielder Jesse Winker said. “He carried us all year. It's like every time there's a big home run, he hits it. I don't know how he can stay so calm. He's the MVP, he really is. I’m so proud of him, I’m so happy for him.”

All right, so is Lindor not I will win the National League MVP award. Shohei Ohtani was probably always going to win it. But Lindor's back injury in September cost him just enough time to prevent that.

But does that even matter on nights like these? Let us tell you a few more tidbits about how special this home run was.

The Mets have been around for 63 seasons. They have played almost 10,000 regular season games. And in all those years and in all those games, only once had they hit a late-inning grand slam to change the lead in a regular season game. Ike Davis scored this goal on April 5, 2014, when they were down in Game 9 against the Reds. But that was in April. This was a clinch night in October.

And that's even up there with the historic October not-beats. In the last 10 postseasons, there have only been four other lead-changing home runs of any size or shape, in the sixth inning or later, that won a decisive game for the team that did it.

Here are these four. You will remember her.

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

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

• World Series 2022 – Yordan Alvarez (Astros) in front of Jose Alvarado (Phillies)

• NLWC 2024 – Pete Alonso ahead of Devin Williams (Brewers)

(Source: Baseball Reference / Stathead)

So how about this: Five breathtaking lead flippers in a decade… and the Mets hit two of them in the last week.

Hey, it's been such a year and such an October for a team caught on one of those magic carpet rides that don't come along very often – especially in Flushing. But just when you think they can't possibly top the final moment, a baseball shoots through the ozone on an unforgettable Wednesday night in New York. And everyone who has seen it will be talking about it for decades.

“That was a very special moment,” Stanek said, “for a man who is so special to this team and to this city.” I mean, that's how you would write it if you could write the script. You know what I mean?

“Seriously, you have superstars on your team who come up big in situations like this. And that's why they deserve this contract. In these moments they come into their own. He's just an incredible player, an incredible teammate, an incredible leader for us. And I couldn't be happier for him. None of us could.”

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(Top photo: Brad Penner / Imagn Images)