CNN
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Pete Alonso hit a historic three-run home run in the ninth inning to give the New York Mets a 4-2 win over the Milwaukee Brewers in their winner-take-all third game of the NL Wild Card Series.

The Mets will next play against their NL East rival, the Philadelphia Phillies, in the National League Divisional Series (NLDS), which begins Saturday – the first time the teams will face each other in the postseason.

“I’m just so happy that I was able to move forward,” Alonso, who will be a free agent at the end of the season, said after the game. “It’s just something you practice as a kid in the backyard, as a little kid you experience scenarios like that…words can’t explain it. “It’s just unreal.”

Alonso’s home run off All-Star closer Devin Williams, which just cleared the right field wall, sparked wild cheers from Mets fans at American Family Field in Milwaukee. With free agency looming, it could have been the final act of his Mets career — but the possible last dance continues.

The game-winning hit means Alonso becomes the first player in Major League history to hit a go-ahead home run in the ninth inning or later of a winner-take-all postseason game.

“It’s that next-pitch mentality,” Alonso told reporters. “Every AB (at bat), every pitch, every inning, I want to do my best. I focus on it and it’s baseball, it’s a game of failure.

“Sometimes that’s not the case, but especially in these big games you have to take the next step and do something positive or do the best you can, stick to yourself and do your best.”

After the Mets came from behind to win 8-4 in Game 1, the Brewers evened the series with a 5-3 victory on Wednesday. And before Alonso’s home run, it looked like Milwaukee was destined to win a series for the first time since reaching Game 7 of the 2018 NLCS.

Milwaukee had built a two-run lead in the seventh inning and appeared to be on the right track thanks to back-to-back homers from Jake Bauers and Sal Frelick.

In the bottom of the ninth, the Brewers had retired 12 straight Mets batters and allowed just two hits when Williams, who had secured the team’s victory in Game 2, came off the bench. But Alonso ensured something was different this time.

“I’m really glad I was able to finish right there and just hit something hard on a field that I could handle a lot of the field,” he said.

At several points during the season, it seemed unlikely that the Mets would clinch a playoff spot, not least when they trailed the Atlanta Braves early in the ninth inning on Monday. That was before Francisco Lindor hit a dramatic two-run home run to secure an 8-7 victory and a spot in the postseason.

New York also made a comeback on a larger scale this year, starting the season 22-33 but still making the playoffs. The stunning victory over the Brewers marks the first time the team has advanced to the postseason since 2015.

“We just saw one of the greatest games in Mets history,” said David Stearns, president of baseball operations. “It’s a franchise that has had remarkable late-inning and late-game comebacks in the playoffs, and to be a part of that with this group is truly special.”

“There is no way this season could have ended without something happening in the ninth inning,” he added.