Mets need to find more magic yet again with season on the brink

MILWAUKEE — These Mets seem to come through when they absolutely have to, and once again, they are at that scary point. The Mets authored some very big wins throughout a mostly magical year.But now they finally have a game that can only be called a must-win. Technically, they needed all 89 of their regular season victories to punch their ticket to October.

But they face their very first actual elimination game Thursday.A deciding winner-take-all Game 3 in this wild-card series is upon us, made necessary after the Mets blew a late lead and lost 5-3 here Wednesday. “We’ve been knocked down.

And we have the ability to get right back up,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said.“And here we are.” It isn’t going to be easy. The Brewers have a lot going for them, and now they have momentum, too.

They outplayed the Mets in the standings and on the field throughout this season, beating them five games out of six, but this series was looking a lot different at the start. The Mets actually outperformed the Brewers the first 16 innings of this series, winning Game 1 and leading into the eighth inning of Game 2.Nevertheless, the Brewers evened this series late, thanks to eighth-inning home runs by 20-year-old rookie Jackson Chourio (his second of the night) and Garrett Mitchell off reliever Phil Maton. Mendoza said afterward he did have star closer Edwin Diaz available.

But he only had him for an inning, at most.So Maton, who has thrown solid baseball since coming to the Mets in mid-July, got the ball for the eighth. When Maton entered, the Mets held a one-run lead and were so close to arranging their travel to Philly for the Division Series with the Phillies.

They were ready to change out cheese land for cheesesteaks. What’s more, they were beating the Brewers at their own game, outplaying them on defense and on the basepaths. But ultimately, the Brewers overwhelmed the Mets with the long ball. The Mets made a lot of magic this year.This is the time f...