MILWAUKEE — Perhaps the greatest home run in Mets regular season history wouldn't have meant as much without an earlier at-bat.
Francisco Lindor's season-changing, game-winning, two-run homer in Atlanta on Monday was a game-winning home run because there were runners on base.
With the Mets trailing by one run and desperately cutting off a runner, it was Starling Marte who singled to left and was able to jog around the bases one pitch later.
In Game 3 of the Wild Card Series, Marte hit a two-out single in the ninth inning to give the Mets a 4-2 victory over the Brewers.
A side benefit of the late-season run that got the Mets into the postseason was that Marte, who had often looked like an aging outfielder the past two seasons, was now an older outfielder who was starting to look more like himself.
“I think this is probably the best version of Marte that we've seen since the injury,” coach Carlos Mendoza said of Marte's latest big hit.
Marte's offense flourished at the right time not only for the 2024 Mets, where he started all three games in the Wild Card Series, but also for the 2025 Mets, riding on the good hitter.
The hope is that the club will bring in a contributor rather than a player who will be in his final stages of 36 next year.
Marte, who is in the final year of his contract, is scheduled to make $20.75 million next season.
Marte probably won't be an All-Star in 2022 like he was in his first season with Queen's, but the Mets would be willing to take on the same type of contact hitter phenom with the strong stealth skills he's shown of late. Dew.
In the final postseason game against the Braves, Marte hit two singles and scored two of the Mets' eight points.
In the first two playoff games against the Brewers, he got on base without striking out once (.500 OBP), hit a sacrifice fly, stole a base, and was robbed of a home run by the glove of Jackson Cholio.
This is Marte from the Mets, who signed a four-year, $78 million deal. There were concerns whether he would ever be seen again.
After Marte had a great first season with the Mets, injuries started.
He underwent double groin surgery before the 2023 season, which kept him inactive throughout the year and led to an early hiatus after playing just 86 games and being largely ineffective.
This year, he appeared to have taken a step back defensively, as he was sidelined for about two months from June to August due to a bruised knee.
After a middling performance in the first few weeks of September, Marte bounced back.
He said his confidence remained steady, believing he could remain the same type of player he has been during his 13 seasons in the major leagues.
“First of all, when you have a lower body injury, you might feel like it limits what you want to do a little bit, but I listened to my trainer,” Marte says. “I feel great,” he added through interpreter Alain Suriel. “I was able to recover the right way.”
