Queens baseball team is heading to the playoffs
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The New York Mets pose for a picture after a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers Monday, Sept. 19, 2022, in Milwaukee. The Mets won 7-2 to clinch a place in the postseason. AP photo by Morry Gash
By Jacob Kaye
For the first time in six years, the only professional baseball team to ever call Queens home is heading to the playoffs.
With a dozen games left to play in the regular season, the New York Mets clinched a spot in the 2022 playoffs Monday night, defeating the Milwaukee Brewers 7-2 in a game that seemingly encapsulated what has so far been a magical season for the Queens baseball team.
The National League East remains up for grabs with the second-place Atlanta Braves close on the Mets’ heels, but Monday’s win ensured that even if all falls apart over the final two weeks of the season, the Mets will at least have a spot in the Wild Card series.
It will be the first time since 2016 that the Flushing club has had a legitimate shot at a World Series victory.
But the postseason berth almost wasn’t the biggest story of the night in Milwaukee.
The milestone came on a night where Max Scherzer, the Mets’ biggest acquisition over the offseason and the highest paid player per year in baseball history, spun a perfect game through the sixth inning. Manager Buck Showalter pulled him after he struck out Brewers outfielder Garrett Mitchell for his ninth strikeout of the game. But pitching late into the game was never an option – it was Scherzer’s first start since returning from the injured list and keeping the 38-year-old healthy for the postseason took priority.
The perfect game was broken up immediately after Scherzer’s unusually joyous return to the dugout. Tylor Megill, who was also making his first appearance since returning from the injured list, gave up a leadoff double in the seventh inning to Christian Yelich and two-run home run to Rowdy Tellez a few batters later.
But spoiling a night that seemed to encapsulate all the best qualities of this year’s Mets team would prove impossible.
All nine starters picked up a hit in the seven-run effort, which was bolstered by a three-run blast from the struggling Pete Alonso in the fourth. The monstrous homer helped solidify Alonso’s National League-leading 118 runs batted in. The fourth-year player is likely to set his career high in the statistical category when the season wraps up in two weeks.
Monday night’s win also was the 200th victory of Scherzer’s career. The future Hall of Famer told reporters after the game that the achievement, which is likely to become less and less frequent in the coming years and decades, is special but that he’ll truly take stock of it when the season ends.
This Mets team has bigger things on its mind.
