Mets plan to 'get right back up' in winner-take-all Game 3

MILWAUKEE -- Game 161 of this Mets season, Carlos Mendoza reflected on Wednesday, “is going to be a game that people will be talking about forever.” That victory in the first game of a doubleheader against the Braves clinched the Mets a postseason berth. But it also did so much more for them. In vanquishing their longtime tormentors in Atlanta, the Mets proved -- for the umpteenth time this season -- that they can overcome even the thinnest odds.

It’s a skill they’ll need to draw upon one more time on Thursday in their highest-stakes game in two years. After losing National League Wild Card Series Game 2, 5-3, to the Brewers, the Mets are now set to play in their first win-or-go-home main event: a Game 3 showdown in Milwaukee at 7 p.m. ET.

“Here we are,” Mendoza said. “Got punched today. We’ll get right back up.”

Those punches came in rapid succession in the eighth inning at American Family Field, after Mendoza set up the endgame just the way he wanted it: Ryne Stanek for the seventh, Phil Maton for the eighth, Edwin Díaz for the final three or four outs to nail down a trip to the NL Division Series. The Mets just never got there. Jackson Chourio opened the eighth inning with his second homer of the night, a game-tying shot off Maton, and Garrett Mitchell followed four batters later with a go-ahead, two-run homer.

“I still feel the adrenaline there,” Chourio said about a half hour later. “It was a very special moment for me, and it’s one I'm going to look back on and remember for the rest of my life.”

It was the type of moment that will go down in Brewers lore -- but only if the Mets allow it to. Winning Game 3 would reduce the eighth inning of Game 2 to a mere footnote, a stumbling block along the Mets’ path to bigger and better things.

So far this season, they’ve answered such challenges as a matter of routine. In their sixth game of the season, the Mets found themselves three outs away from falling to 0-6. They wound up winning on a walk-off. By late May, the Mets were 11 games under .500. They wound up blossoming into Major League Baseball’s best team from that point forward. As recently as early September, with their season again melting away in Toronto, Francisco Lindor broke up Bowden Francis’ no-hit bid with a game-tying homer in the ninth inning, allowing the Mets to climb back up the NL Wild Card standings. And of course earlier this week in Atlanta, there was the game that Mendoza will remember forever.

These are just some examples of the Mets’ resilience. Every good team has its share of such moments, but these Mets have long seemed preternaturally good at creating them.

“It’s win or go home,” said their Game 2 starter, Sean Manaea. “If anybody can do it, this team can.”

“We’ve been doing it all year, to be honest,” added first baseman Pete Alonso. “We’ve responded to adversity well over the course of this season. I trust in my guys in this clubhouse.”

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Within the walls of that room, the Mets feel they are primed to respond one more time. They’ll send Jose Quintana to the mound Thursday and should have their full complement of relievers ready behind him. Maton, whom Mendoza has leaned on heavily all week, said he’s prepared to pitch for a fifth time in six days if needed. Díaz, who was available for a maximum of four outs in Game 2, should be able to give the Mets six in an elimination game.

The Mets can also draw upon their experiences two years ago, when they lost Wild Card Series Game 3 to the Padres. Since MLB moved to its current postseason format in 2022, a dozen Wild Card Series have taken place. Only two of them have gone to a decisive third game, and the Mets -- a chaos team, if ever there was one -- have been involved in both.

“Obviously, losing is not fun but we’ve been responding to adversity all year,” Alonso said. “I’m really excited for this challenge tomorrow. I know they’re equally as excited. … This is what the playoffs are all about -- two great teams going at it.”