Mets play it cool before deciding Game 3

The Mets pregame can be a raucous affair at times – a clubhouse outfitted with a pool table that Pete Alonso circled like a shark in one of the waning days of the regular season, smack talking Daniel Vogelbach, who gave as good as he got.

There’s a Ping-Pong table too, where Luis Guillorme reigns supreme. And then there’s the wondrous black hole that is Tommy Hunter’s locker: An area where the affable Mets reliever holds court – cracking jokes, schooling the assembled media on the finer points of cow breeding (he has a paper catalog of potential sires), and occasionally partaking in the perilous hobby of busting Jacob deGrom’s chops.

(For the record, deGrom will sometimes try to keep a straight face – marking, perhaps, the first time deGrom has routinely failed at anything in a baseball setting).

It’s not groundbreaking stuff, but maybe it was notable that prior to their second straight potential elimination game Sunday, all of that was still going on.

“I think it’s kind of the same as any other game,” said Jeff McNeil, who offered a glimpse into a pregame clubhouse that’s closed to media once the playoffs begin. “Really loose in there. Guys are playing pool. Guys are watching football. We’re just kind of having some fun right now, trying to stay loose. Once it’s time to get ready to go, everyone’s going to be extremely focused. This is a huge game, definitely the biggest game I’ve ever played in. We’re all looking forward to it.”

Of course, none of this has been “the same” as anything for the Mets. It’s McNeil’s first playoff experience, and Pete Alonso’s, and Brandon Nimmo’s. The vibe at Citi Field over the course of this Wild Card Series has often been more tense than celebratory, even when the Mets were ahead Saturday, and there were conversations, Chris Bassitt said, of the peril of making the moment too big in their heads.

“I’ve told a lot of guys on the team who haven’t been in the playoffs, listen, whoever can just be themself the most I think has the biggest advantage,” Bassitt said. “The moment is already massive. Adrenaline is already – you don’t need Red Bulls anymore. You’re good.”

Even before Sunday’s result, it was clear that the Mets were willing to live and die with this concept – though executing the philosophy is far harder than speaking it. Postgame, the hallway outside the locker room often featured a parade of baby strollers. Francisco Lindor’s daughter, Kalina, stole the show during a news conference Saturday – first asking for Buck Showalter and then turning to Alonso, exclaiming “Pete!,” and instantly becoming a viral sensation.

All of that is by design: Families are welcome, pregame tomfoolery is more than accepted, and players are given the leeway to play or brood as they see fit. That means Showalter’s appearances there are brief, and that player personnel like bullpen catchers have been moved elsewhere. It also means that on days like Sunday – the biggest day thus far – Showalter metaphorically danced with the one who brought them here, not deviating from what worked in the regular season.

“Believe me, they know what’s going on,” Showalter said before the game. “We had this game last night. They know. What do you want me to do, walk around and go, hey, you know what tonight means? They’ll go, really?… I like going in there, but I try not to tread too much. There’s times when you do. It’s kind of like managing. Sometimes the best managing you do is the managing you don’t do because, if you start doing a lot of things differently, they sense that.”

On Sunday afternoon, the Mets had all the reminders they needed, so Ping Pong it was.