There will be no “Game 4 of the NLCS in Pictures.”

I was hoping that would be my post today, my way of recapping a win I was there for.

But there was nothing really worth sharing from Game 4 of the NLCS. (Well there were a couple of media-related things - and bunting! - but I’ll get to those another time.)

The Dodgers pretty thoroughly thrashed the Mets, taking a 3-to-1 series lead and putting the Mets on the brink of elimination.

What that game did allow me to do last night, since I wasn’t quite on the edge of my seat all game (though there were moments), was reflect on my year at Citi Field.

I hope I’m back for a World Series game.

Because it would be a shame for the end of the season to bookend the way it began.

I saw some real clunkers early in the season.

We all did if we went to a game - the Mets might have taken a lead, led most of the game, and then watched the bullpen blow it. That was a common theme.

Or they might have left a lot of men on base and saw every rally die.

That’s kind of how Games 3 and 4 went - the bats just couldn’t get going.

But of course everything turned around and the Mets got everything to click and between the beginning of the season and last night, almost every game I saw at Citi Field was beyond exciting.

Wins. Exciting, walk-off wins. Dominant wins where a position player had to come in to pitch. Wins no one expected the Mets to get.

The last time the Mets were in a position where they faced elimination, they came through. Pete Alonso came through. The Mets were down to their final 2 outs when he blasted the 3-run homer that saved the season and pushed the Mets into the NLDS. That was 15 days ago.

That game was like a season, the way the emotions went.

The past month or so has been its own season, with its ebbs and flows.

Each series is, in a way, its own season.

The Mets are down 3-1. Not unlike how they were 11 games under .500.

It feels like everything is bouncing the other team’s way right now. The Mets’ fly balls are falling just short of the wall, the Dodgers’ are going over. When the Mets bobble a ball the runner is safe. When a sharp grounder hits off the pitcher against the Dodgers, LA is fielding it cleanly and making a play.

Dave Roberts seems to be pushing all the right buttons. For the first time all season it feels like Carlos Mendoza is not.

But maybe this is where it turns around, the way the season turned around.

All the Mets need is 3 wins in a row against a team no one expects them to do that to.

I’ve seen this team do incredible things all year. They can do that.

They have done exactly that type of thing these past six weeks or so, winning every time they absolutely had to.

But I also saw the Mets look pretty gassed last night. It’s been a hard month and a half. Arms looked tired. Players looked tired (and when it comes to Brandon Nimmo, pretty hurt).

I have a hard time believing the season is going to end tonight and this team that worked so hard for so long to get here is going to let it end quietly.

David Peterson has pitched in some pretty big spots so far this post-season and come through.

We need another such outing tonight.

I’ll believe the bats are completely overwhelmed by Dodgers pitching when I see it happen for an entire series. I believe they’re due for the big rallies where they get hit after hit and drive in the runners on base.

I don’t believe the Mets will end the season at Citi Field the way it began - with a 3-game losing streak. (Well, the beginning was 5 but you understand. That’s impossible here.)

Tonight will start with the Temptations singing the national anthem, and then ‘My Girl.’

That sounds kind of loose and fun…which is kind of how this team plays best.

Hopefully not the last time I leave Citi Field in 2024.

If they get it to Game 6 with a Sean Manaea start, I don’t know. That feels pretty good. And you know what they say about Game 7.

Anything can happen.

I don’t see this team quitting, that’s for sure.

Let’s Go Mets.