Game 115 was one too many for Francisco Lindor.
A few hours before the Mets met the Braves Friday night at Citi Field, manager Buck Showalter was asked whether he would allow his shortstop to attempt to become the second player in franchise history to play in every game of a 162-game schedule after Felix Millan had done it in 1975.
At that point, Lindor had gone 114-for-114 while across the way, four Atlanta players — infielders Matt Olson, Ozzie Albies and Austin Riley, and outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. — had been celebrated for going 113-for-113.
“It’s something as we get into September that we’ll talk about,” Showalter said while acknowledging that he and Lindor have already chatted about the matter.
“I’m going to listen to him a little bit.
“Francisco is a guy who plays with great pride, just like Atlanta’s infielders [Olson, Albies and Riley]. He takes a lot of pride in being there for his teammates and setting an example. It’s something we’re going to keep a close eye on as we move forward.”
Well, never mind.
Because just minutes before Tylor Megill threw the game’s first pitch to Acuna, Lindor was scratched from the lineup with what was announced as, “right side soreness,” his spot at short taken by Jonathan Arauz.
There went the run at 162.
There went the consecutive-games-played streak of 223, 222 of which he had started.
Lindor will turn 30 in November.
He had started 114 of the club’s 115 games, 113 of them at shortstop and one at DH.
The only game he did not start came on the day of the birth of his daughter on June 17.
He pinch-hit in the ninth inning of that one and has missed only two innings in the field over the ensuing 44 contests.
The Mets never wanted to run him into the ground these final seven weeks of a lost season.
Jeopardizing his health would constitute organizational malpractice. Now, the path to resting Lindor will be one of less resistance.
“One thing about Francisco Lindor since the day he got here, he’s a guy who takes a lot of pride in playing,” the manager had said. “A lot of guys take that commitment and use it as a reason to go in the other direction.
“You don’t have to worry about that with him. You’re going to get everything he’s got the whole time he’s a member of this organization.”
If a rising tide lefts all boats, a fiasco like this 2023 season depresses individual achievements.
If the Mets were in a race, Lindor would be celebrated and not only for punching the clock every single day of the work week.
Lindor ranks 10th in the majors for non-pitchers with a 4.4 WAR by Baseball Reference and ninth in that same category at 4.4 by Baseball Prospectus.
He is fourth among shortstops with an OPS of .802 while holding the positional lead for home runs with 22. Fielding Bible rates him fifth in runs saved at his position.
That likely would be a top-five resume for MVP if the Mets had fulfilled expectations as well as Lindor.
And what truly impresses is that Lindor has become dramatically more productive as the season progressed.
The shortstop who wears brightly colored shoes does not have a white flag in his sartorial collection.
Lindor was slashing .221/.307/.442 with a .749 OPS on July 5. He entered Friday slashing .246/.333/.469 with an .803 OPS. He’s slashed .382/.469/.618 with a 1.087 OPS over his 15 games since July 25. He has not gone gently into the dying of the light.
“These guys are self-motivators, too, now they don’t have that added motivation that would come from being in the middle of [a playoff race],” said Showalter. “I know [Brandon Nimmo] is playing through some things right now, Pete [Alonso] does every day. So does Lindor. He doesn’t complain about anything.
“Sometimes you have to be somewhat of a protector for them because they are not going to do it themselves, necessarily. They’ve got too much pride. It’s something that I and we have to be on top of but you also take into consideration that you’ve come this far and it’s something they want to do.”
It is past tense, now.
Going for 162 is something Lindor might have wanted to do.
But 114 proved enough.