Resilient Mets must rise up one more time with trip to NLDS on line

There are plenty of things that have defined the 2024 Mets, as they've gone from a team most people felt would be selling at the trade deadline to one that stormed into the playoffs while exorcising more than two decades worth of demons in Atlanta.

But if you want to come up with one word that most aptly describes this Mets team, it's resilient.

That word can have little meaning at times. It can be thrown around in a way that cheapens it. But for the 2024 Mets, it really does mean something.

And as they prepare to face the Brewers in Game 3 of the Wild Card Series on Thursday night with a trip to the NLDS on the line, it's important to remember that...

The Mets were 0-5.

They were 22-33.

They have been without their ace, Kodai Senga, for all but one start.

They were without Francisco Alvarez for two months due to a freak thumb injury.

They dealt with Edwin Diaz losing his confidence and then getting suspended for 10 critical games.

The bullpen, which was adeptly remade on the fly by president of baseball ops David Stearns, has been decimated by injuries, with Dedniel Nuñez, Brooks Raley, Drew Smith, and Sean Reid-Foley all going down during the season and not returning.

The lineup has been held down at times by a version of Pete Alonso who has struggled mightily with runners in scoring position after being terrific in those spots over the first five years of his career.

The rotation took a massive hit when promising rookie Christian Scott was lost for the remainder of this season (and all of next season) because of Tommy John surgery.

The Mets survived multiple gauntlets in their schedule, including ridiculously-scheduled road trips.

And this team endured a whole bunch of gut-punch losses, responding every time while putting up the best record in baseball over the last 100 or so games of the regular season.

Diaz gave up a game-winning grand slam to Corbin Carroll in Arizona? No problem. He came back the next day and shut them down in a win that secured the tiebreaker New York needed to reach the playoffs.

The Mets got outclassed in the first two games of last weekend's series against the Brewers, only for David Peterson to lead them to victory while pitching the best game of his career in the third one.

New York got embarrassed in a sloppy loss in Atlanta last week, MLB botched the scheduling with a hurricane barreling down on Georgia, and the Mets had to go back there for a must-win scenario the day after the season. No problem. Even after the Mets coughed up a late lead. They simply came right back, on Francisco Lindor's back.

Even in some games that looked like sure losses, the Mets got off the mat. The best example came last month in Toronto, when they were getting no-hit by Bowden Francis. Lindor -- of course it was Lindor -- blasted a no-hitter-ending, game-tying homer in the ninth that preceded an offensive eruption and important victory.

So the Mets facing a win-or-go-home scenario in Game 3 against the Brewers on Thursday night in Milwaukee should not be daunting for them.

There is nothing this Mets team has done that should have anybody doubting their resolve, even a night after Phil Maton simply didn't have it, allowing a potential clincher to slip away in the eighth inning as he left hittable pitch after hittable pitch on a tee for the Brewers to take advantage of.

The leadership in the clubhouse is strong, led by Lindor, who called the team meeting early this season before the Mets turned it all around.

The leadership in the dugout is strong, led by Carlos Mendoza, who has had a steady hand all season and has held his players accountable while also being incredibly supportive and protective.

The leadership in the front office is strong, led by Stearns, whose measured aggression has enabled the Mets to get to this point.

Thursday night for the Mets is simply the latest challenge in a season that has been full of them. And there's no reason to think they won't rise to the occasion once again.