MLB Playoffs: Francisco Lindor leads Mets into Wild Card Series

The New York Mets are returning to the postseason, and simply put, they wouldn't be here without Francisco Lindor. Although they got by during his absence in late September, it was clear throughout the year that Lindor was vital to the team's success. The fact that he made it back onto the field in the final games of the regular season is a major reason for optimism as the team begins its Wild Card series in Milwaukee.

Statistically, this season was Lindor's best since joining the Mets and one of the best of his career. While playing an excellent shortstop, he hit .273/.344/.500 with 29 stolen bases, 32 home runs, a 137 wRC+ and 7.8 FWAR. That wRC+ was the best mark of his career, and the fWAR ranks second, slightly behind his similarly excellent 2018 season when he was with Cleveland. Without Shohei Ohtani's 50/50 season, Lindor could be considered the likely National League MVP.

Those stats alone would be enough to make Lindor the centerpiece of this playoff team, but among the team's players, he was one of the leaders. When the Mets looked fully healthy in late May, it was Lindor who called a team meeting after a loss to the Dodgers that dropped the team to 22-33 on the season.

This type of meeting is not always effective, and it seems that the percentage of those who change the season is very low. But the Mets won their first two games after Lindor called it, and by the end of June they were just one game under .500. At the end of July there were six games over, at the end of August there were eight games. And thanks to an even better month of September, the Mets completed the 16-game season over .500 and in a playoff spot.

For the record, Francisco Lindor has had our support here on Amazin' Avenue since the day the Mets traded for him. But through all the hubbub following his argument with fellow infielder Jeff McNeil and subsequent “rat or raccoon” declaration in 2021, he has emerged as a leader on a team that has made the playoffs in two of his four seasons on the squad.

Sure, the MLB lowered the barrier to making the playoffs when it expanded the postseason to twelve teams and introduced the Wild Card round. But the Mets have rarely made the playoffs so often. The 1969 and 1973 squads were from the same era, albeit with more years between appearances. The legendary 1986 team returned to the postseason only once, in 1988 – although the team's 95-win average from 1985 to 1990 was the team's most consistent winning streak ever.

The Piazza Mets made the playoffs two consecutive years in 1999 and 2000. And despite a 97-win season in 2006 and a stellar core, the version of the Mets that began shortly after Piazza's departure only made the playoffs once. David Wright was able to play for part of the 2015 season, but this was definitely a new era of Mets baseball. This version of the team made the one-off Wild Card game the following year – and unfortunately lost it. And that was it until Lindor's Mets won 101 games and made the postseason in 2022.

There's still a lot of work to be done, but Lindor would truly cement his legacy with the Mets if he were the leader of the franchise's first championship team in nearly forty years. He's fully on the Hall of Fame list, and a few more seasons like the last four would make him a contender for those honors. None of this is guaranteed, but none of it is unrealistic either.

When it comes to the postseason this year, there were of course other key contributors. In a season in which Kodai Senga suffered two long-term injuries, Sean Manaea and Luis Severino proved to be a capable pitching pair at the top of the Mets' rotation. Jose Quintana overcame some really tough stretches to finish the year with a respectable ERA, and David Peterson put together the best single season of his major league career after returning from hip surgery. And aside from a failed seven-start run by Adrian Houser, the Mets' remaining starters this year – Tylor Megill, Christian Scott and José Buttó – combined to give the Mets plenty of competitive innings.

The bullpen also proved to be a very respectable unit, although Edwin Díaz looked much more human this year than in 2022. His season was perfect, but Buttó's work outside the bullpen was a very pleasant surprise in the innings of Sean Reid-Foley, deadline acquisition Phil Maton , Dedniel Núñez and Reed Garrett. Sixteen pitchers threw at least 10 innings out of the team's bullpen this year. Not everyone was good, but as a group they were better than anyone could have expected.

And it really wouldn't be fair to talk about this version of the Mets making the playoffs without mentioning Lindor's teammates at the position. JD Martinez provided a boost and seemed like a more equal player and hitting coach when he arrived, even if he himself declined in importance as the season progressed.

Jose Iglesias, infielder and creator of OMG – the team's musical and celebratory identity since he was drafted from Syracuse – has done an excellent job in a part-time role. Mark Vientos has taken a huge step forward as a big league hitter. And despite all the setbacks in his game, Pete Alonso hit 34 home runs and was one of the better first basemen in the game this year, according to wRC+.

The Mets certainly would have liked to get more out of some of their players, but Francisco Alvarez and Jeff McNeil shined at different points during the season. Tyrone Taylor has done more than could reasonably have been expected, although Starling Marte's performance and injuries in the penultimate year of his contract were disappointing. And Brandon Nimmo is capable of doing more than his 2024 line, but he hasn't been all bad by any means.

It's a team sport, and almost everyone who makes the Wild Card roster has had an impact that helped the team get to this point. However, without Francisco Lindor the team would have fallen short. As Mets fans, we are lucky to have him, and getting to watch him in postseason games is something we should fully embrace right now.