Pete Alonsos really special Mets moment changed everything

MILWAUKEE — Pete Alonso reminded us all again how fickle baseball can be, how one swing can change a season, a team, a legacy and maybe even the path of one’s whole career.“Pete! Pete! Pete!” the folks yelled as Alonso negotiated the spartan concourse in the bowels of American Family Field on his way to the post-game presser, a celebration unto itself.These were of course all close friends and family waiting outside the victorious clubhouse.

But they may as well have been everyday Mets fans, whose opinions and outlook regarding the slugging but slumping Met surely turned on one pitch, one swing and one point in time.“It’s a really special moment,” Alonso said afterward in his usual understated way.Actually, it’s quite likely a life-altering moment.Let’s face it: no owner, no matter how well-to-do, is doling out $158M (what they offered last year, according to Joel Sherman), or more, for a star who took the virtual power collar in September and October.Oh, Alonso produced hits here and there, he played generally air-tight defense (one dropped foul pop-up late notwithstanding) and he dutifully reported for work every day, banged up or not, just as he did on his complete 162-game regular-season record.Oh, club owner Steve Cohen and his financial folks (yes, even self-made billionaires have advisers) would have made Alonso some sort of perfunctory offer had the Mets gone out in the wild-card round with only whimpers from Alonso.

But there would have been no excitement, no momentum, really no chance for Alonso to be back in a Mets uniform.He looked to be going, going, gone.Now, after his last-inning, wild-card-winning home run, the Mets and Alonso have something happy to talk about.The season was already a success, but with his mighty stroke, he turned these never-say-die Mets into the biggest and happiest story in sports.

When they sneaked into the playoffs, thanks to the couple of cardiac comebacks in Game 161 and the first paper tiebreaker in base...