Starling Marte is hitting for Mets in NLCS at right time

LOS ANGELES — After the Mets survived Game 5, only two hitters in baseball had logged more postseason hits than Starling Marte. 

The contact magician capable of spraying the ball anywhere sure looks to be all the way back. 

Marte, an All-Star in his first year with the Mets before the injuries began in 2023 and rarely relented, missed about two months with a deep bone bruise in his knee this season and only played sparingly upon returning in mid-August.

For health reasons or optimal lineup reasons, manager Carlos Mendoza started Marte for 26 of the final 39 regular-season games, the veteran outfielder a small piece rather than a foundational block. 

But when the games have mattered most, it has been impossible for Marte to leave the lineup.

The Mets have played 12 October games, and Marte has started them all. 

The fact that Marte’s knee — and groin, which required surgery following the 2022 season; and head, with migraines stalling his 2023 campaign — has allowed him to remain in the lineup has been key.

The fact that Marte’s bat has responded has made Mendoza’s lineup decision simple. 

“When you’re playing with injury, it’s a difficult situation,” Marte said through interpreter Alan Suriel after going 4-for-5 with three doubles and three RBIs in Friday’s Game 5 victory over the Dodgers. “So once you’re able to rehab that injury, you’re in the training room, you get everything that you need to get right, you come back with a different type of confidence. 

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“I think that’s what I’ve been able to do is just kind of follow up the proper routine.” 

The power that Marte once possessed might be drained at 36 years old — he hit 16 home runs in 118 games in his first season in Queens and seven in 94 games this year, still without a postseason dinger — but in a lineup with power bats such as Pete Alonso, Marte offers a different dimension.

He grounded a double down the first base line in Friday’s first inning.

He smacked a two-run double down the third base line in the third.

He waited on a Brent Honeywell breaking ball and laced a double into left-center in the sixth.

He smacked an RBI single to center in the eighth.

Only teammate Mark Vientos (17) and Cleveland’s Steven Kwan (15) had more postseason hits than Marte’s 13 entering Saturday. 

His late-season emergence, after a down 2023 and an up-and-down 2024, has given the Mets hope for the rest of this year — and for next, when Marte will return for the final season of his four-year, $78 million pact. 

What once looked to be an albatross is looking more reasonable with every postseason game. Marte is healthy, hitting and having a blast, donning a necklace that a young fan gave him Friday. 

“I’m the type of player, as long as the team wins, I’m in a good mood,” Marte said.