Pete Alonso's playoff pumpkin is the Mets' new lucky charm

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Pete Alonso and the Mets are taking one Playoff pumpkin with them on their playoff run back to the Big Apple.

These Cinderella Mets — who appropriately use orange in their color scheme — are hoping their carriage ride through the postseason doesn't turn into a pumpkin at midnight anytime soon as they seek their first World Series championship since 1986.

Maybe it helps that Alonso has already snagged a lucky pumpkin in a pumpkin patch in Wisconsin.

Alonso used one dose Pumpkin power hitting a three-run home run off Devin Williams in the ninth inning to give the Mets the lead for good 4:2 win over the Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday in the decisive third game of their NL Wild Card Series.

Alonso and the Mets advanced to a best-of-five division series against the NL East champion Phillies beginning Saturday in Philadelphia.

As Alonso spoke to reporters during the champagne-soaked celebration in the Mets' locker room, he was presented with a small pumpkin. Alonso called it his “playoff pumpkin” and explained that he and his wife found it while visiting a farm outside Milwaukee last weekend when the Mets were playing here.

“Nothing says fall like playoff baseball and pumpkins,” Alonso said.

Alonso dropped the small pumpkin on a clubhouse table next to beer cans as he uncorked the champagne in a wild celebration.

Who knows, when the Mets retired Darryl Strawberry's No. 18 this season, the famous Home Run Apple at Citi Field was redesigned to look like a strawberry. When the Mets return home for Games 3 and 4 next week, a playoff pumpkin may rise above center field.

The playoff pumpkin provided a number of good luck charms this season. The Mets held on to one “OMG” sign They raise in the dugout after big hits like Alonso's home run. New York Mets infielder Jose Iglesias sang his song “OMG” after their win in June in front of 32,465 fans at Citi Field. The song reached No. 1 on the Billboard Latin Digital Song Sales chart in July.

Some true believers insist that the Mets' turnaround began when McDonald's became a character grimace threw out a first pitch in June. After Grimace's first pitch, the Mets won seven straight games and began their climb up the NL East standings. Haliey Welch, better known as Hawk Tuah Girl, has become a Mets fan after throwing out a first pitch and posting a video of herself cheering on the Mets in the deciding game. Welch threw out the first pitch at a Mets game in August and later celebrated the Mets' performance. Hawktober!”

It's all part of a fun fall vibe that has the Mets hoping well into the Fall Classics.

“This is who we are as an organization and this is who we are as a team,” Alonso said on Thursday evening. “This is our identity. Everyone is behind us and supports us fully, and everyone is in this together. It's a very special group. How far we've come this year compared to the beginning of the year, not many people would have thought we'd be at this point now. It’s just really special to keep going, keep going the way we did.”

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb