MILWAUKEE — Arguably the biggest home run in Mets regular-season history wouldn’t have meant nearly as much if he hadn’t batted before.
Francisco Lindor’s season-changing home run in Atlanta on Monday was only the go-ahead home run because there was a runner on base.
At a moment when the Mets were desperate for baserunners and were down one run, it was Starling Marte who sent a single to left field and could run around the bases one pitch later.
Starling Marte ripped an RBI single in the ninth inning of the Mets’ 4-2 NL Wild Card win over the Brewers on October 3, 2024. Tannen Maury/UPI/Shutterstock
And there was Marte again in Game 3 of the Wild Card Series that came with a two-out single in the ninth to drive in an insurance run in the Mets’ 4-2 win over the Brewers.
The Mets’ late-season sideline that got them into the postseason was Marty, an aging outfielder who often looked like an aging outfielder the past two seasons, looking like one instead.
“I think this is probably the best version of Marty that we’ve seen since he got injured,” manager Carlos Mendoza said before Marty’s latest big blow.
Marte’s offense has come alive at the right time, not only for the 2024 Mets, for whom he rode the hot hitter and started all three games in the wild-card series, but also for the 2025 Mets.
There is more hope that the club will have a shareholder next year rather than a 36-year-old on his last legs.
In the final year of his contract, Marte is set to make $20.75 million next season.
Marte likely won’t be the All-Star he was in his first season in Queens in 2022, but the Mets would gladly accept the same type of talent with strong stolen base skills that have been on display recently.
Starling Marty celebrates with his teammates and coaches after the Mets’ win over the Brewers. Tannen Morey/UPI/Shutterstock
In the postseason playoff game against the Braves, Marty hit a pair of singles and scored two of the Mets’ eight runs.
In the first two playoff games against the Brewers, he lived on base (with a .500 OBP), drilled a sacrifice fly, stole a base and had a home run robbed by Jackson Chorio’s glove without striking out once.
This is the deal Marte the Mets signed for four years and $78 million. There were concerns about whether he would be seen again.
After Marty’s excellent first season with the Mets, the injuries started.
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He underwent double hip surgery before the 2023 season, which hampered him all year and led to him being shut down early after just 86 mostly ineffective games.
This year, when he appeared to be regressing defensively, including a knee bone bruise that sidelined him for nearly two months from June to August.
After mediocre results in his first few weeks in September, Marty has rebounded.
He said his confidence hasn’t wavered, believing he can still be the same type of player he usually was during his 13 major league seasons.
“I think firstly, when you have a lower-body injury, you might feel like you might be a little bit limited in your ability to do what you want to do, but I listened to the coaches,” Marty, who added that he feels “really good,” said. Translator Alain Surreal. “I was able to recover the right way.”
