A lot has happened since the New York Mets last played at Citi Field.
An 11-game stretch away from home — with the last three games decided in the final two innings — has brought the Mets from the regular-season home stretch through the NL Wild Card Series and into the NLDS.
With the team’s showdown against the Phillies tied 1-1 and shifted to Queens on Tuesday for Citi Field’s first divisional series game since 2015, a familiar purple face is back in town to try to coax a little more magic out of a team that has thrived on superstitious runs and unconventional good-luck charms.
There is the “OMG” sign kept in the dugout and used as a post-homer photo prop, a tribute to the chart-topping Latin pop song released by journeyman infielder-turned-lineup staple Jose Iglesias (or Candelita, to use his stage name) in June. More recently, the playoff pumpkin emerged — a source of inspiration for star first baseman Pete Alonso, whose three-run blast brought the Mets back from the brink of elimination against the Milwaukee Brewers.
But no superstition has charmed the Mets’ season like the presence of McDonald’s mascot Grimace.
Back in June, the fast-food mascot threw out the first pitch at Citi Field, an innocuous promotion for a club treading water with a 29-37 record. But something clicked after Grimace’s pitch. The Mets ripped off seven straight wins, then tore through July with a 17-10 record. Sitting in fourth place in the NL East at the time of the mascot’s first pitch, New York has had the best record in MLB since.
Later in the year, with the team gearing up for the home stretch, the Mets rekindled the Grimace magic by commemorating him with a purple seat at Citi Field. New York would finish 6-1 across its last seven home games, enough to help the team clinch a postseason berth on the season’s final day.
Now with postseason baseball having returned to Queens, Grimace is back as well to try to inspire one final run — specially branded 7 train and all.
Unsurprisingly, Mets fans — some of whom have begun adorning Grimace suits themselves in an attempt to further bolster the team’s play — were hyped up to ride the train with their squad’s unlikely source of inspiration.
