3 UP

1. Alonso Owns the Record

With his 53rd homer of the season, Pete Alonso is atop the record books all by himself. He’s the all-time rookie home run king. It stands for the National and American League. It stands for the homers in a players debut year. It stands for all time.

It was an incredibly emotional moment for lifetime Mets fans watching this player who exceeded every expectation, no matter how unrealistic, and proved to be too good to be true. Like Wilmer Flores once was, he was crying on the field only this time we can honestly say they were truly tears of joy.

As if this weren’t enough, Alonso is going to take time this week to bring his 9/11 cleats to the 9/11 Museum. Like the Mike Piazza jersey, they will be there as a reminder about how these Mets players have never forgotten.

2. So Much For Being Busts

One of the great parts of this season was seeing Mets players who were considered busts or never will be prove themselves when they were finally given an opportunity. The Mets walk-off win to end the season was the perfect example of that.

The game winning rally was started with Luis Guillorme battling in his at-bat against the lefty Jerry Blevins to get a lead-off single. Both he and Dominic Smith would score on Smith’s emotional walk-off homer.

As we know, Smith went through a lot this year. He was surpassed by Smith on the depth chart. He finally got properly treated for sleep apnea. He would fight for playing time, and just when he earned a spot in the everyday lineup, he would suffer a broken foot.

A little more than two months after his injury, he would homer. Seeing how much of this season has been the progress of the young players, Amed Rosario included, Smith hitting the walk-off homer was really the perfect way to end things.

3. Diaz Earns the Save

August 15. That was the last time Edwin Diaz had converted a save opportunity. Since that time, the Mets had mostly moved on to Seth Lugo and Justin Wilson for save chances as the Mets pushed for one of the two Wild Card spots.

Now, circumstances had presented themselves in September, but he would blow both of his save opportunities. That includes the Mets inexplicable loss in Washington.

On the final weekend, the Mets gave Diaz another opportunity, and this time he was great striking out two of the three batters he faced. He used his slider better than he had almost all season. In that moment, he looked like the closer the Mets paid a hefty price to obtain. That’s a great sign for a team which desperately needs him to be that dominant closer again in 2020 if the team is going to have any chances of competing.

While fans may not want to give him that chance, they absolutely should. We have seen plenty of examples where a reliever has struggled one year to break out the next. Certainly, we have seen that with Diaz in his own career. On another note, look at Carlos Beltran‘s 2005 and 2006 seasons.

Sometimes, it just takes a year to figure things out. If Saturday is any indication, Diaz has.

3 DOWN

1. Make a Decision Already

The San Diego Padres began their offseason early dismissing Andy Green. The Chicago Cubs decided that Joe Maddon‘s five year tenure which brought them their first World Series in over a decade needed to come to an end. Even the ineptly run Pittsburgh Pirates have been able to make a decision on Clint Hurdle before the season ended.

For that matter, the Boston Red Sox would part ways with Dave Dombrowski as it became clear to them he was not the right man for the job to bring that team their next World Series.

The Mets? Well, they still don’t know what they’re doing.

Mickey Callaway has been the manager for two years. In his body of work, you can see enough reasons to both retain him for another year or to decide to go in another direction. You have all the information you need to make a decision, and there has been plenty of time to make that decision.

And yet, the Mets haven’t made their decision. They’re going to meet this week to determine their manager’s fate. While other teams have already long begun their processes, the Mets are still at the beginning stages of theirs. Once again, they have needlessly put themselves behind the 8 ball.

There are many reasons why the Mets are not the first class organization they once were when the Wilpons were co-owners with Nelson Doubleday. One of the biggest is the inability to make a decision and be proactive.

2. Bullpen Blows Up Again

You knew the Mets could not end the season without another bullpen blow up. This time it was both Paul Sewald and Walker Lockett allowing homers to Adeiny Hechavarria. Hechavarria’s first homer against Sewald tied the game in the ninth, and the one against Lockett was a go-ahead homer in the 11th.

It wasn’t just Hechavarria who homered off Lockett. Adam Duvall would also homer.

What made the blowup worse was it presented the Mets another opportunity to allow Juan Lagares to appear in one final game with the Mets, and for some reason, it never happened.

While this was not a blown save, the Mets bullpen would have 27 blown saves on the season which was the sixth most in the Majors. Certainly, this makes this a key thing which needs to be addressed this offseason. Seeing where the budget is, that is going to have to come from a mixture of getting guys like Edwin Diaz and Jeurys Familia back on track.

It is also going to be the Mets seeking out bargains in the offseason. One note there is with the Mets forcing Devin Mesoraco into retirement, the team cutting Hechavarria and Carlos Gomez before roster bonuses were due, and the team purportedly backing out of promises made to Dilson Herrera, that task is going to be all the more difficult.

3. Mets 2019 Season Is Over

No, these Mets did not live up to the “Come Get Us!” hype from their General Manager, but to be fair, he didn’t give them all the tools they needed to succeed. As a result, the Mets find themselves with a winning record and outside the postseason for the first time since the team moved to Citi Field.

Along the way, Alonso had one of the greatest rookie seasons ever. Jacob deGrom put himself in a position to win a second straight Cy Young. Guillorme, Smith, Rosario, and a host of young players took a step forward to show they could be key pieces of a World Series caliber team.

Overall, this became not just a resilient but also an extremely likeable team. Perhaps, they are one of the most likeable teams in all of Mets history. That’s what makes this season ending all the more melancholy. But where we have the season ending, we do have the hope for 2020.