Playing Every Game a “Dream” for Francisco Lindor

The Mets have come to know Francisco Lindor to be a player who shows up every day. His first couple years, he only missed extended time during his first season in 2021, when he was out for a month with an oblique injury. Since then, he’s suffered from bone spurs and played through a broken finger, but he still managed to miss just three games across 2022 and 2023.

However, he’s yet in his career to play in all 162 games in a season.

In a recent interview with The Athletic, Lindor called it “a dream of mine” to play in every game. “If I play it, that means I was ready to play every single day and was available to play every single day. And God gave me the blessing to be available and ready to play every single day,” he said.

He’s finally on pace. With just 24 games left, he’s played in all 138 games so far. He’s started 137 of them.

The lone game he didn’t start, he entered in the sixth inning of a game the Mets were down 5-2 against the Chicago Cubs on May 2. He left the previous game in the third innings with an illness. However, he promptly doubled to bring the score to 5-2, then he hit a game-winning two-run double in extras. Since then, he’s slashed 292/.359/.529/.888 and been the best player in the National League by WAR.

Carlos Mendoza has gotten Lindor off his feet for a couple innings at a time during blowouts, but Lindor’s been out there every day. Over the course of the season, he’s become the leader for the Mets on the field and in the clubhouse. His calm, positive demeanor—even during the “bumpy” patches, as he calls it—keeps the team looking forward to the next game rather back at the last one. But he’s been more vocal over the last couple of years, as he points out in The Athletic interview.

“I’ve got to be like, ‘Hey, this team needs somebody to be talking a little bit more. This team needs someone who is going to be more like, ‘How are you doing today? How are you feeling? You don’t look right. Are you OK?’ Or, ‘You look fantastic. Keep it up.’ This team needed that. And that’s what I’ve done.”

Lindor’s career-best season—by OPS+ and potentially by WAR by the end—is cumulating in a September playoff push for the Mets, which wouldn’t be possible without his play this year. He’s now at 7.0 fWAR. No one else on the Mets is above 3.0.

An MVP would be nice for Lindor, though Shohei Ohtani‘s offensive performance this year has been otherworldly. But he’s almost certainly finish at worst second in NL MVP voting, and that’ll be proper recognition for the season he’s had. He’s also probably the front runner for an NL Gold Glove—his first in the league—and he could notch an NL Silver Slugger, too. He’s also expected to be the Mets’ nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award.

But the awards won’t mean much if the Mets don’t make the playoffs. (Ok, the Roberto Clemente Award would mean something bigger.) As of publishing today, they’re a half game back of the Atlanta Braves for the third Wild Card spot and three games back of the Diamondbacks. They’re fresh off a 7-3 West Coast road trip, and they started a home stand with Boston and Cincinnati with a win. (Lindor played a key part in that, of course). So expect him to play every day. He’ll play 162. And if this season’s shown us anything about Lindor, he’ll be the one who wills the Mets to October baseball.

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