NEW YORK — Katia Lindor closed her eyes and began to pray.

When she opened them, the ball from Francisco Lindor’s bat was still in the air — heading toward the right-center field fence. “Come on, come on, come on,” she said to herself as the boat sailed on. Ultimately, the ball ended up over the fence and into the visitor’s bullpen. Pandemonium erupted around her, a blur of orange and blue fans jumping up and down and shaking the ground.

She started to cry.

“It’s almost like a weight has been lifted off our shoulders and it’s like people are finally appreciating him and seeing his value,” Lindor’s wife said. “I think they’re starting to see it off the field, and certainly on the field. I’m so proud of him. I’m in awe of him every day. His hard work is just relentless. He doesn’t do that.” takes his responsibility and his role lightly.”

Lindor’s grand slam in the sixth inning was perhaps the biggest home run in the short history of Citi Field, and perhaps the best swing of his life. In one fell swoop Wednesday, the goal put the Mets on the board, gave them the lead and accounted for all their offense in a 4-1 victory that eliminated the rival Phillies from the postseason and sent New York to the National League Championship Series . for the first time since 2015.

The series-cliching grand slam – a true fairytale moment for Queens – also served as a metaphor for everything Lindor means to this Mets organization.

“I want to win everything. I want to win everything,” Lindor said. “And our team will be a team that will be remembered forever. This will be a team that comes every ten years and eats free everywhere. And I want to do that. I want to do that. But the job isn’t done yet.”

Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns, his eyes red with champagne and hysteria, said anyone who has seen Lindor step up in clutch situations this year felt he would be the one to deliver the big hit in a tight Game 4 of the NLDS.

“I don’t know if there’s another baseball player in this situation that you want working right now,” Stearns said.

Just nine days ago, which can feel like nine weeks in October, Lindor hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in the eighth inning against the Braves to seal the Mets’ playoff spot. The following week, Lindor reached base consistently to hit key home runs for his teammates, including Pete Alonso’s three-run explosion in the ninth inning in a winner-takes-all wild card game against the Brewers and Mark’s ninth inning Vientos. two-run shot that tied Game 2 of the NLDS against Philadelphia. It’s hard to believe that Lindor’s dramatic 100-mph grand slam off Carlos Estévez was his first home run of the postseason, given how much he contributed to each victory.

“The whole time I was thinking, this is who we are,” manager Carlos Mendoza said as he thought as Citi Field erupted. “This is part of the story. This is part of the book, the movie, whatever you want to call it. When he connected with that ball, I (Lindor) just wanted to enjoy it.”

“I don’t remember putting my hands up. But my hands were just hanging in the air,” Alonso said of his reaction to Lindor’s grand slam. “Just an incredible swing. I mean, that was the swing of a lifetime. That’s what you practice in the backyard as a kid.”

It’s no exaggeration to say that the shortstop has led the way every step of the way — from starting the season 0-5 to eleven games under .500 in late May, by being waived for the All-Star Game — in the Mets’ unlikely scenario. odyssey to the NLCS. Lindor’s attention to detail and ability to remain level-headed in stressful situations are just a few reasons why his teammates describe him as an assassin, consistent, their MVP, their leader and their captain. Stearns said the 30-year-old Lindor structured his entire life to do what he did Wednesday night at Citi Field.

His final act of leadership came not in the sixth but in the ninth, after Edwin Díaz walked his first two batters on 10 pitches. The embattled Mets closer was walking the tightrope of maintaining a three-run lead when pitching coach Jeremy Hefner called for a mound visit.

Díaz tried to pump himself up by repeating, “Let’s go, let’s go.” That’s when Lindor got into Díaz’s ears: “Don’t say ‘let’s go,'” Lindor told him. “Just do it.”

In the blink of an eye, Díaz, who had been struggling to locate him, closed in and threw his 99 mph fastballs right where he wanted them — blowing them through pinch-hitter Kody Clemens for a strikeout. After inducing a fly ball, Díaz quickly got ahead of postseason titan Kyle Schwarber before putting him away with a 101 mph heater to close the door on the NL East champions’ season.

As the Mets dugout swarmed the field, a beautiful thing happened: Instead of rushing to the mound, the entire Mets roster sprinted to where Lindor stood in the infield and embraced him with a hug. Then, and only then, did his emotionless facade fade. He smiled, he cried, he laughed, and he looked around at the crowd at Citi Field and took it all in.

“We’re blessed to be able to do this for the fans,” Lindor said, red-eyed, to FOX’s Tom Verducci. “We just keep climbing. My batting doesn’t come up if the guys in front of me weren’t there. Today I was the one driving in runs, but it could have been anyone.”

But it was most likely Lindor, and it allowed a long-suffering fan base to witness a series victory in Vlissingen for the first time since 2000.

“Great ballplayers do great things,” Mets owner Steve Cohen said of Lindor’s shot. “It was the bases loaded. It was a big moment, so I stood up. You knew something was going to happen.”

True to his style this fall, Lindor was straight-faced and locked in as he circled the bases after his home run. Somehow he was the only one keeping it together while the rest of the Queens went crazy. Outfielder Jesse Winker described Lindor as a “stone cold killer.” Lindor’s calm reactions are a departure from the explosive, celebratory displays he put on in his previous postseasons with Cleveland. A few teammates asked Lindor about it, and he told them he wouldn’t celebrate until the job was done, until the Mets made it to the finals of the World Series.

Just 24 hours earlier, Lindor said it was the calmest he’s ever felt in his six career trips to the playoffs.

“I don’t know, for some reason the reactions from me this year weren’t as nervous or excited,” he said Tuesday. “I don’t know if it has to do with being tired or if it has to do with just trying to stay in the moment, that I don’t have that crazy reaction that I normally have. It’s just, I’m in a good place right now. I’m living the life I always wanted.”

That goes for the Mets too.

As the team celebrated on the field in dark black T-shirts soaked in champagne, a fan held up a sign that read: “Believe in miracles.” Another read “DESTINY” in orange letters. That’s how the 2024 Mets play: a team of destiny that is resilient above all else. Entering spring training, the Mets had a 2.2% chance of winning the NLCS, according to FanGraphs’ playoff odds. That same projection system gave them a 1% chance of winning the World Series. Now the Mets are just eight wins away.

Stearns had a few choice words for those who criticized the core of these Mets — led by Lindor, Alonso and Brandon Nimmo — and wondered if they could win big games.

“I think they have shown that this is nonsense,” he said. “This core has been winning games since June 1. So we can put that to bed right now.”

And yet, afterward, Mendoza claimed that the Mets, who actually have the best record in baseball as of June 1, haven’t done anything yet. Lindor said he is far from satisfied. The Mets are undoubtedly enjoying the moment. But they’re still hungry, and that should be a scary sign for their next opponent. The Mets enter the NLCS as perhaps the most consistent team in baseball.

“This is what I wanted. I came here to play winning baseball and have opportunities to try to win a World Series,” Lindor said. His play had already taken these Mets further than anyone outside their clubhouse could have imagined. “We have to keep climbing.”

Deesha Thosar is an MLB reporter for FOX Sports. She previously covered the Mets as a beat reporter for the New York Daily News. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Deesha grew up on Long Island and now lives in Queens. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.

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