Asdrúbal Cabrera's euphoric bat-flip sums up the NL wildcard chase

(Image credit: Mike Stobe/Getty Images)

published 23 September 2016

On Thursday night, New York Mets shortstop Asdrúbal Cabrera hit a home run. He was pretty excited about it!

It was Cabrera's 22nd home run of the year — and the 124th of his career — but it was easily his most exciting, given that it kept the Mets in the hunt for the National League wild card spot. Earlier in the game, the Mets blew a lead to the Philadelphia Phillies in the eighth inning until third baseman José Reyes bailed them out in the ninth with a two-run homer to tie things up. The game went to extra innings, but when the Phillies scored twice in the 11th, all looked lost for the Mets — until Cabrera's dinger.

New York has been decimated by injuries, but the Mets have been riding an unlikely late-season surge that has them fending off the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals for the right to one of two NL wild card spots. The Giants also won Thursday, so both the Giants and the Mets are currently a half-game ahead of the Cardinals in the wild card chase. (The Cardinals face the league-leading Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on Friday.)