NEW YORK — Francisco Lindor entered the Mets clubhouse on Monday afternoon as chill as ever.
Dressed stylishly in a gray crewneck, a black do-rag and Oakley shades, the Mets shortstop zigzagged through the room toward his locker. Along the way, the ever-affable superstar greeted almost everyone in his path. A hug to a teammate, a dap-up to a media relations employee, a kind smile here, a knowing nod there.
One day after recurring back discomfort forced him out of a crucial game, Lindor looked his typical self: easy, free, effortless. There were no obvious signs that the hopes of a franchise and a fan base rested on his aching body. He didn’t move like a player who, just hours earlier, had been praying in his car that his sensational campaign would be allowed to continue.
“I was praying on my way to the MRI and CT scan that it was going to be something day-to-day, and the good lord answered my prayers,” Lindor told Yahoo Sports and other assembled media during a short session Monday afternoon.
Lindor indicated that he’ll likely resume physical activities Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on how he feels. The switch-hitting shortstop is enjoying the best offensive season of his career, with 31 homers, 27 steals, an .836 OPS and superb defense at shortstop. He is a near lock to finish in the top two of NL MVP voting alongside Dodgers dynamo Shohei Ohtani.
But as the Mets’ topsy-turvy season races to its dramatic conclusion, Lindor’s back has become a main character. First it kept Lindor out of the starting lineup on Saturday for just the second time this season. A day later, he tried to play through the pain. Lindor hobbled through two innings before taking himself out.
Clinging to the final NL wild card, the Mets lost both games to Philadelphia in gut-churning fashion. Their best player and emotional leader watched it all unfold from the dugout.
The Mets woke up Monday morning tied with Atlanta for a playoff spot and fearing the worst: that the team’s best player might not play again this year.
But then team and player received good news. An MRI revealed no structural damage. Lindor will not require a trip to the injured list; his aching back won’t even need a cortisone shot, just rest and some pills.
Lindor admitted that he zoned out after the trainers told him there wasn’t anything horribly wrong.
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On Monday night, the Mets played without Lindor. They won anyway, outlasting the Nationals 2-1 in 10 innings. Meanwhile in Atlanta, the Braves got clobbered by the Dodgers. The Mets, without their most important piece, edged into the NL wild-card lead by a single game.
José Iglesias, a 34-year-old who began the year in Triple-A, started at shortstop in Lindor’s stead. The veteran infielder has become something of a cult hero in Queens since his Latin pop hit “OMG” became a viral team anthem. He delivered a game-tying single in the eighth inning.
Two frames later, Starling Marte, whose season has been besieged by injuries of his own, laced a walk-off single down the left-field line. Harrison Bader jogged home to score the winning run as the Mets raced onto the field to mob Marte. Lindor kept himself out of the fray. A trademark smile stretched across his face, the ailing shortstop lingered just beyond first base. As his teammates strolled back to the dugout, Lindor greeted them one by one, just as he had earlier in the day.
It was another improbable win in a Mets season full of them.
A year ago, this franchise began the season with the largest payroll in MLB history and postseason expectations. Instead, the 2023 Mets fumbled the chili, finishing the year with just 75 wins. That led to wholesale changes over the winter: a new front office led by former Brewers GM David Stearns and a new manager in former Yankees bench coach Carlos Mendoza. But the Mets and deep-pocketed owner Steve Cohen did not flash major cash in the free-agent market, as Stearns opted for piecemeal improvements.
And for the first two months of 2024, it felt like the same old Mets. Losses stacked up, a reliever threw his glove into the stands, players underperformed, a fan base grew despondent. A mid-June burst propelled the Mets back into contention, but it wasn’t enough to convince Stearns and Co. to go for it at the trade deadline. While other NL wild-card contenders such as the Cardinals and Padres swung headline-making deals, the Mets opted for marginal upgrades, adding a handful of relievers and lefty-hitting outfielder Jesse Winker.
Yet the team kept winning. They rattled off nine in a row in early September. The gap to an undermanned Atlanta team dwindled, then evaporated.
This season might come down to a massive, three-game set against the Braves next week in Atlanta. New York has the more imposing remaining schedule, with two games more against the Nats, four against the Phillies, those three in Atlanta and three in Milwaukee. Atlanta has relative minnows ahead in Cincinnati and Miami before finishing the season against a pesky Royals team.
So here the Mets are, with 12 games remaining, in possession of a playoff spot, full of that dangerous, intoxicating thing called hope. Soon, they’ll have Francisco Lindor back in the fold, too.
