Mets slugger Pete Alonso destroyed more than a baseball with his home run

All of us will remember where we were when Pete Alonso hit one of the most impactful home runs in New York Mets history. Who saw it coming? Our whole lives watching baseball, we’ve been told to make educated guesses on trends. Alonso vs. Devin Williams isn’t the greatest matchup for the Mets. It didn’t stop Alonso from depositing one just over the right field wall. Somewhere in Wisconsin, a contractor has reached out to the Milwaukee Brewers about moving the right field wall back another 20 feet.

The home run was more laser-like than obliterated. This wasn’t light tower power on display. It was good old-fashioned creaming of a changeup too close for comfort.

Destroyed far more than the baseball itself was the narrative surrounding the soon-to-be free agent.

Pete Alonso changed his free agent narrative with that home run

Not clutch? This moment alone ends the debate. If Alonso doesn’t have another hit in the postseason, he’ll always have this. No one can take it away from him.

Alonso’s struggles this season in the big moments headlined much of the discussion about his future. An Alonso home run that added insurance would be declared as “garbage time.” Let’s not forget whose dinger tied the game in the bottom of the 9th in the team’s first win of the season on a dreary, damp doubleheader back on April 4.

How slowly things change. The Mets were getting beaten up by the Detroit Tigers who didn’t stand a chance at the playoffs (a team still believed to be out of contention as of the trade deadline). Alonso was off to the races on what began as a very productive first month of the season. Many might have forgotten how it was Francisco Lindor and Brandon Nimmo who were hopeless at the plate in the first month. Alonso, in game 6 of 162 regular season games he’d play in, helped his cause while putting together a strong month.

For all of the Alonso hate this season, he was pretty consistent. His .222 batting average in September was the low with the .272 in June reaching its zenith. The only real shift we saw in the final two months was the compiling of strikeouts. August had 42. September had 32. No other month went higher than 26.

Any season has peaks and valleys. Looking at his monthly stats, not even Sarah Langs could find a WHEEEE at any moment, of course until it mattered most.

Does one colossally epic home run change the narrative about Alonso completely? You probably already decided if you wanted to keep him or not. But arguing how he doesn’t hit in the clinch is now ludicrous. What’s bigger than playoff baseball?