Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports

The New York Mets entered September with slight hopes of a playoff berth. As the month progressed, the team hovered around .500 and ended an incredible Subway Series, taking two of three from the Yankees, at an even .500 record.

But over the next few games the Mets completely fell flat, losing 10 of 11 games, officially eliminating themselves from playoff contention.

While the month ended with an 11-16 record and a fifth consecutive season outside of the postseason, two players capped off 2021 with memorable months and etching their names into Mets the Mets history books.

Hitter of the Month: Francisco Lindor

Of the four months this season that Lindor played 20+ games, September/October brought the highest batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage for the Mets superstar.

In 30 games from the start of September until season’s end, Lindor slashed .257/..346/..549. Above all, his power was evident last month, with his nine home runs and 25 RBIs being far and away the most he hit in a single month all season.

His first homer of the month was the definition of “clutch”. Let’s set the scene: it’s the ninth inning and the game is tied 9-9 after the Mets blew a 9-0 lead. With Lindor at-bat and a runner on second, he sent a 2-1 pitch over the wall in right field to give the Mets an 11-9 lead, the same score they’d ultimately win by. In the game, Lindor went 3-for-5 with two runs scored and four RBIs.

On September 12, Lindor had one of the best games of his major league career. He led the Mets to a thrilling 7-6 victory by way of THREE home runs, tying a club-record last done by Robinson Cano in 2019. His third homer of the evening, a solo shot in the eighth inning, produced one of the better ESPN announcer calls you’ll ever hear, and gave the Mets a lead they would not look back on.

In his penultimate game of the season, Lindor hit just his third triple of the season, which ended up being his final hit of 2021.

Adding onto his red-hot month, Lindor also walked 16 times, the most in a month for him this year.

Overall between September and October, Lindor collected a base hit in 20 of the 30 games he played in. After such a disappointing start to the season, ending his first year in Queens with 20 home runs is great news.

Also considered for Hitter of the Month: Javier Báez, who slashed .347/.426/.554 last month, including a 13-game hitting streak.

Pitcher of the Month: Aaron Loup

A lowkey free agent signing in the 2020 offseason, Aaron Loup not only became one of the Mets more reliable relievers, but he turned in one of the best seasons for a relief pitcher in franchise history.

As good as his overall body of work was in 2021, he saved his best for the last month of the season. September came and went without Loup allowing a run.

Across 11 2/3 innings, Loup allowed just six hits and six walks, striking out nine batters as well. He held opponents to a mere .150 batting average, but more impressively was that batters also had a .150 slugging percentage against him. So, with just six hits allowed, none of them going for extra bases, it’s safe to say that Loup was beyond excellent in September.

Whereas other months, Loup sometimes pitched just 1/3 on an inning in a given outing, all of Loup’s September appearances went for at least 2/3 of an inning. In fact, 10 of his 12 times on the mound last month were for at least a full inning. This speaks to Loup’s ability to be more than just a left-handed one-out guy (LOOGY).

In September, Loup picked up his fifth and sixth wins of the season, giving him a perfect 6-0 record on the season. While he did have a tendency to occasionally put multiple men on base via base hit and/or walk, the damage never became worse as he always managed to retire the side before any runs crossed the plate.

With 2 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball over his last three appearances, Loup lowered his season ERA to 0.95. By pitching 65 games this season, Loup entered the record books as having the sixth lowest ERA in a single season for a season with at least 65 games pitched.