No star player of this century has understood and embodied the Mets experience more quickly than Pete Alonso, who emerged as a center power and locker room leader as a rookie in 2019. while also embracing the idea of ​​crazily enjoying the moment unique to Mets fans.

And when he stepped to the plate for the Mets for the 3,631st and possibly final time Thursday night at 9:41 PM EST, he was in danger of leaving without a signature postseason moment.

Not anymore.

Alonso’s 228th big-league homer was his most dramatic, a three-run shot that led to a four-run ninth inning and lifted the Mets past the Brewers, 4–2, and into the NL Division Series against the rival Phillies.

“I wanted to be in that place,” Alonso said afterwards. “I wanted to perform for my team. I want to contribute in a positive way.”

There have been bigger battles in Mets history, but few have been infused with as much narrative drama and dueling bits of symbolism. Every plate appearance this season has been a referendum on the future of Alonso, who had his worst season in his walking year.

His struggles in the clutch extended to every other situation down the stretch. Alonso entered the crucial at-bat in a 7-for-46 slump with one home run and two RBIs since September 18, a period in which he was 3-for-17 with one RBI with runners on base.

Alonso, the inning’s fourth batter, came on the board because Francisco Lindor and Brandon Nimmo, who have usurped him as franchise players this season, singled around a strikeout by Mark Vientos, the most likely internal candidate to start Alonso at first base. replace. when he leaves this winter.

A season-ending double play or otherwise retiring wouldn’t have undone all of Alonso’s achievements with the Mets. But it would have put a troubling question mark on his Mets experience as he heads into an uncertain offseason.

“As you watch the game unfold and we go into the ninth inning against one of the best closers in the game, I look to my right and I see Pete Alonso,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “And I thought, this could be it here.”

Instead, Alonso hit a historic homer that symbolized his tenure, one defined by homers hit with brute force and celebrated with an ID-filled joy that still hasn’t been completely wrung from him after six seasons in the New York cauldron .

Alonso, the first batter this season to homer on a Devin Williams changeup, screamed and twisted the bat in his hands as the ball flew toward right field. Once the ball cleared the fence, Alonso made a chef’s kissing motion as he walked around first base, made the Mets batting motion as he neared second base, pumped his arms and did a little shimmy as he neared third base and eventually gestured to the Mets’ dugout as he approached home plate. The ESPN audio then cut out for a few seconds, mostly due to the euphoric profanity pouring from the Mets’ dugout.

“For Pete to come through this way is a dream come true for him,” Mendoza said. “And what a signature moment there.”

Alonso’s all-time Mets moment is particularly rewarding for a player who has been a perfect symbol for the Mets as we know them, but perhaps not as we will ultimately recognize them.

It’s hard to believe at this point, but the Mets are probably in the process of losing their reputation as crazed thrill-seekers who know no other way to navigate a baseball season. One look at the Mets franchise page on Baseball Reference will remind you that this is no way to build a sustainable winner.

And Steve Cohen didn’t spend $2.4 billion to buy the team from the Wilpons and then wait three years to hire David Stearns as his president of baseball operations to operate as usual.

If all goes according to plan, the Mets will transform themselves into Dodgers East. Making the playoffs every season will be their birthright. They will be corporate and terribly boring during the regular seasons that won’t matter because the Mets will be measured by how they do in October. There will be no more four-day stretches where the Mets play two of the most incredible games in team history.

Perhaps Alonso will return, as that transition takes place in 2025 and beyond. Or maybe he’ll play the last half of his career elsewhere and be remembered as the Mets bridge man, the franchise player who was the reason he came to the park and tuned into SNY during the final two years of the rudderless Wilpon era. and the first three years of trial and error of Cohen’s tenure. But thanks to Thursday night, one of the most iconic Mets moments of all time will always belong to the greatest Mets player of all time.