When Pete Alonso came to bat in the bottom of the first inning, he received a standing ovation from much of the sold-out crowd at Citi Field. It could have been his last game there as a Met.

The first baseman said the reaction surprised him so much that he didn’t know what to do.

Alonso said home plate umpire John Libka had a message for him as he entered the box.

“John said, ‘Are you going to take your hat off or something? I can give you time,'” Alonso said after the Mets’ 2-1 win over Philadelphia. “I said, ‘What?’ I was worried about my batting average, but (thought), ‘Yeah, I should.’ I’m glad John reminded me of that.”

It was the first of four loud ovations for Alonso, who is on his way to becoming a free agent for the first time.

However, if things go well for the Mets in the next few weeks, he could come back.

And Sunday’s win over the Phillies helped their cause, as Alonso said he had a similar mindset to Carlos Mendoza: He didn’t view Sunday’s game in Queens as anything final.

The Mets are two games ahead of the Braves in the battle for the last NL wild card. The series between the two begins on Tuesday in Atlanta. When asked whether Sunday could possibly be his last game at Citi Field, Alonso said beforehand: “In my opinion, it is not.”

For the Mets to play at Citi Field again, they would likely have to make it to the NLDS, as all of the wildcard series games are played in the higher seeds.

“I’m really excited about this opportunity that we’ve worked so hard for this year,” Alonso said. “Today isn’t about me. It’s about us and who we are. It’s about the 2024 Mets. We’ve come so far from where we came as a group. We just have to finish.”

They failed to do so in 2022, when a three-game sweep of the Braves in Atlanta in mid-September helped the Mets lose the division title.

Alonso is confident that they will bounce back well away from home this time and secure a wildcard place.

After Monday’s off day, the Mets will see how the 2024 season will turn out.

“I’m excited,” Alonso said. “We’re playing meaningful baseball. We’ve been preparing for this all year and now it’s here. Now we have to make it happen.”

The Mets still have the best record in the Major League since the end of May, which makes Alonso and the Mets feel good even with a week to go.

“We’ve been playing excellent baseball for a very long time,” Alonso said. “And I think people will say ‘Oh my God’ or make faces at the 2024 Mets, but the only word that comes to mind is ‘resilient.’ We’ve earned the right to be in this position, and to be a part of this group has been really, really special.”

Sunday was another example, although Alonso went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts.

“It was incredible, like something out of a storybook,” said Alonso about the fans’ reaction. “It’s remarkable to see and feel this recognition in such a full house.”

And it was better that there was another victory.

“This was a hard-fought team win,” Alonso said. “This is our identity. A game like this shows who the 2024 Mets are.”

You have put yourself in a good position for the last week.

“We’ve done a really good job so far in this series (against the Phillies) and played quality baseball,” the first baseman said. “We just have to take it day by day. We’ve really created a wonderful opportunity for ourselves. It’s an honor to play with this team. It’s amazing to put on the orange and blue every day. I love it.”