Lindor's 300th Homer Was the One Bright Spot in a Lost Season: Why It Still Matters

Nobody in Queens needed a reminder of how the 2026 season ended. A 74-88 finish, the Mets' first last-place finish in the NL East since 2003, is not the kind of thing you frame and hang on the wall. But on the final afternoon in Washington, with nothing left to play for, Francisco Lindor gave us one swing worth remembering.

It came in the top of the second inning on Sunday, September 27. Ronny Mauricio had just gone deep, and Lindor followed him with a blast off Nationals lefty DJ Herz, a ball Statcast tracked at about 409 feet and 110.8 mph off the bat. It was his 21st homer of the year and, more importantly, the 300th of his career. It also snapped a 13-game stretch without a long ball. When he talked about it afterward, he called it "a cool number." That is a very Lindor way to describe it.

Here is why that number is bigger than it sounds. Lindor is now one of just 11 switch-hitters in baseball history with 300 home runs. Shrink the list to guys who also swiped 200 bags, and it gets tiny: he is only the second switch-hitter ever to do both, joining Carlos Beltran. If you grew up watching Beltran in orange and blue, you understand how special that company is. Lindor is also the only shortstop in that 300-homer, 200-steal club, and he is only the fifth shortstop to reach 300 homers while playing at least half his games at the position, alongside Cal Ripken Jr., Alex Rodriguez, Miguel Tejada and Ernie Banks.

Let's be honest about the season around the milestone. The Mets were dreadful in the first half at 40-57, and the manager change in late June reflected how rough things had gotten. But the second half told a different story. After the All-Star break the club went 34-31, a respectable stretch, and Lindor's September power surge, including four homers in four games earlier in the month, fit right into that late push. A team that plays winning baseball for two and a half months is not a team that has forgotten how.

That matters heading into a winter full of tough questions. There is the Bo Bichette opt-in decision looming, a pitching staff that needs reinforcements, a new hitting approach coming with Jeff Albert gone, and Andy Green getting his first full season as manager. In the middle of all of it stands a shortstop who just did something only one other player at his position has ever done. Lindor is still the heartbeat of this team, and he has now written his name into the history books in a Mets uniform.

It is easy to get lost in the frustration of a lost year, and plenty of us are still frustrated. But the great thing about being a fan is that we get to hold two thoughts at once. Yes, 2026 was a disappointment. And yes, we watched a legitimate all-time shortstop reach a rare milestone wearing our colors. Both things are true.

So here is the bottom line for the offseason: the Mets do not need to rebuild around a new face. They need to build around the one they already have, and give him a supporting cast that matches his greatness. If Stearns and Steve Cohen get that right, the 300th homer may end up being remembered as a milestone from the final day of a bad season that turned out to be the start of a comeback. Let's Go Mets.