Mets excited to finally return home as rocking Citi Field gets 1st NLDS games since 2015
Carlos Mendoza insisted on multiple occasions during the Mets’ final homestand in September that his team would return to play in Queens this season.It seems like a baseball season ago the manager issued that guarantee of sorts.In the 16 days since, the Mets traveled to Atlanta and played once, had two games postponed by Hurricane Helene, played three games in Milwaukee, returned to Atlanta for a doubleheader that included clinching a postseason berth, returned to Milwaukee and won a wild-card series in three dramatic games and split the first two games of the NLDS in Philadelphia before returning home.Got all that?“We’ve had to go through a lot of things just to get here,” Sean Manaea said Monday following an optional team workout at Citi Field.
“At the same time, it’s the belief in each other, this team, this organization.I don’t think anybody in that clubhouse doubted it for a second.”Manaea will get the ball for Game 3 of the NLDS on Tuesday against the Phillies, as the Mets for the second time in this postseason try to avoid losing consecutive games.
The stakes were much higher the last time, when a loss to the Brewers would have ended their season.Follow The Post’s coverage of the Mets in the postseason:But falling into a 2-1 hole against the NL East champions in a best-of-five series would hardly be advisable.Home cooking can’t hurt.“It feels like we have been on the road forever,” Mendoza said.
“But the fact that we’re here and not only have a great opportunity to play meaningful games, playoff games, here in October in front of our fan base is exciting.”The next two games will bring the NLDS to Queens for the first time since 2015, when the Mets split two games at home against the Dodgers before returning to Los Angeles to finish the job.The Mets last played postseason games at home in 2022, when the Padres won the wild-card series with two victories in three games.Francisco Lindor, who was absent from the lineup with back ...