Sports
Mets, Pete Alonso go crazy in champagne celebration with bizarre ‘playoff pumpkin’
The Mets were popping the bubbly in Brew City on Thursday night — and had an extra good-luck charm.
After a come-from-behind win for the ages, the Mets went nuts in the clubhouse, popping champagne in the revelry of it all as they clinched a spot in the NLDS after a wild 4-2 win over the Brewers.
Pete Alonso, the Game 3 hero with a dramatic three-run homer to put the Mets up in the top of the ninth, was at the center of it all with an unusual piece of playoff lore.
A Wisconsin pumpkin.
Alonso, while talking to reporters in the raucous scene in the visitors’ clubhouse at American Family Field, explained he had picked a pumpkin this week in the lead-up to what was a thrilling series with the Brewers.
“Nothing is more fall than playoff baseball and pumpkins,” Alonso said, who went pumpkin picking with his wife, Haley, at a farm about 25-30 minutes outside of the city.
Manager Carlos Mendoza, who won his first playoff series as a big-league manager, also gave a rousing speech amid a lull in the chaos.
“We keep having fun, we keep smiling, this is us right here!” Mendoza said. “And we continue to believe — let’s go!”
The skipper then joined in on the fun by spraying champagne in the jubilant scene.