No star player of this century has understood and embodied the Mets experience more quickly than Pete Alonso, who developed into a center fielder and locker room leader as a rookie in 2019 while embracing the idea of ​​goofily enjoying the moment unique only to Mets fans.

And when he moved to 3,631 on Thursday night at 9:41 p.m. EST. and possibly making his final appearance for the Mets, he was in danger of being eliminated without a defining postseason moment.

No longer.

Alonso’s 228th big league home run was his most dramatic, a three-run blast that sparked a four-run ninth inning and led the Mets past the Brewers, 4-2, and into the NL Division Series against the rival Phillies.

“I wanted to be in this position,” Alonso said afterwards. “I wanted to do something for my team. I want to make a positive contribution.”

There have been greater brawls in Mets history, but few have been imbued with so much narrative drama and dueling symbolism. Every plate appearance this season has been a referendum on the future of Alonso, who had the worst season in his year.

His clutch issues affected every other situation on the track. Alonso hit the key since Sept. 18 in a 7-for-46 loss with a home run and two RBIs. During that time, he was 3-for-17 with an RBI and runners on base.

Alonso, the fourth batter of the inning, came to the plate because Francisco Lindor and Brandon Nimmo, who usurped him as a franchise player this season, lined singles around a strikeout by Mark Vientos, the most likely in-house candidate would replace Alonso at first base if he retires this winter.

A season-ending double play or other retirement would not have derailed Alonso’s success with the Mets. But it would have placed a troubling question mark over his Mets experience as he heads into an uncertain offseason.

“When you see the game unfolding and we go into the ninth inning and face one of the best closers in the game, I look to my right and I see Pete Alonso,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “And I thought, ‘This could be it right here.'”

Instead, Alonso hit a historic home run that symbolized his tenure, a home run hit with raw power and celebrated with an identity-filled joy that still hasn’t quite escaped him after six seasons in the New York cauldron.

Alonso, the first batter this season to hit a home run on a changeup off Devin Williams, screamed and twisted the bat in his hands as the ball flew toward right field. As soon as the ball cleared the fence, Alonso made a kissing motion like a chef as he rounded first base, made the Mets’ batting motion as he approached second base, moved his arms and did a little back and forth as he moved approached third base and eventually pointed to the Mets ball. dugout as he approached home plate. The ESPN audio then cut out for several seconds, no doubt due to the euphoric obscenities pouring from the Mets dugout.

“For Pete to come through like this is a dream come true for him,” Mendoza said. “And what a signature moment there.”

Alonso’s quintessential Mets moment is a particularly rewarding moment for a player who was a perfect symbol of the Mets as we know them, but perhaps not as we will eventually recognize them.

It’s hard to believe right now, but the Mets are probably in the process of shedding their reputation as maniacal thrill-seekers who know no other way to get through a baseball season. A look at the Mets’ franchise page at Baseball Reference will remind you that there is no way to build a sustainable winner.

And Steve Cohen didn’t spend $2.4 billion to buy the team from the Wilpons and then wait three years to hire David Stearns as his president of baseball operations to carry on as usual.

If everything goes according to plan, the Mets will join the Dodgers East. It will be their birthright to make the playoffs every season. They’ll be bland and terribly boring in regular seasons, which doesn’t matter since the Mets will be judged by how they perform in October. There will no longer be a four-day stretch in which the Mets play two of the most incredible games in team history.

Perhaps Alonso will return as this transition takes place in 2025 and beyond. Or maybe he’ll play the second half of his career elsewhere and be remembered as the Mets’ bridge guy, the franchise player who was a reason to come to the park and turn on SNY during the final two years of the rudderless Wilpon era and the first three trial-and-error years of Cohen’s tenure. But thanks to Thursday night, one of the most iconic Mets moments of all time will always belong to most Mets players ever.