In an Instagram post the day after the New York Mets were eliminated from Major League Baseball‘s National League Championship Series by the Los Angeles Dodgers, Dead & Company guitarist and Mets fan John Mayer thanked the team and its star shortstop, Francisco Lindor, for serving as a “new source of inspiration” to him over the course their rollercoaster 2024 season.
After spending the first two months of 2024 at the bottom of the National League barrell, the Mets’ fortunes improved following a ceremonial first pitch by McDonald‘s mascot Grimace on June 12th. While Grimace bungled the pitch, the Mets beat the Miami Marlins that night and never looked back. The team spent the rest of the regular season rising through the ranks of the league, earned an unlikely playoff berth as the sixth and lowest seed thanks to a clutch Lindor home run in the regular season’s penultimate game, upset the Milwaukee Brewers in the playoffs’ opening round, and powered through to the NLCS with a go-ahead Lindor grand slam against the 2-seed Philadelphia Phillies. The Mets eventually lost their NLCS series against the 1-seed Dodgers in six games.
As Mayer reflected in his post, “You never know when you’re going to find a new source of inspiration, and Francisco [Lindor] became that inspiration for me this year. You could see the dedication in his eyes, in his plays – you could even see it in his strikeouts; it wasn’t a case of ‘couldn’t,’ only ‘didn’t that time.’”
While Mayer is no stranger to the Mets’ home park, New York’s Citi Field, having performed there 11 times with Dead & Company between 2016 and 2025, a different set of shows was on his mind as he contemplated the season: this past summer’s 30-show Dead & Co run at Las Vegas, NV’s Sphere. “My Sphere concerts this summer became games in my mind,” he wrote. “Wins were when the music was cooking, when the notes matched the intention, when the zone could be found. Every weekend was a series, and every show was a home game.”
A finger injury he suffered late in the Sphere run only furthered that parallel in his mind. “When I injured my finger and looked down to see half the nail sheared off and bleeding, my first thought was how to play with the other three fingers. That was what Lindor would have done,” he wrote, “and so that’s what I did.
“The Mets’ talent makes them aspirational, but their humanity makes them relational,” Mayer continued. “It means that it’s never out of the question what’s being done on that field could be done by you and I in our pursuits, too. If I had one secret of success to share with you, it’s to pick someone in life you admire and run alongside them. You don’t have to know them to decide that if they can keep going, you can keep going. And the Mets kept going.
“I hope that in the next few days, after the disappointment has had its say, that Francisco and the entire team realizes that what they accomplished was enough,” he added. “Their monumental run was enough to unify a city, bring together families, friends, and remind us all that above all else, nothing is more powerful a force in achieving success than effort.
“A boring word, ‘effort.’” the note concluded. “But it’s the only chance of good becoming great and that greatness taking hold for the long run. So thank you Francisco Lindor, and thank you to the 2024 Mets for the unbelievable adventure, the inspiration, and the reminder to never give up. It was more than enough.”
Related: Revisit Bob Weir & John Mayer’s First Jam Session: ‘The Late Late Show’ In 2015 [Video]
While fans of any ball club could certainly relate to Mayer’s sentiments, it’s still the playoffs: As Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist and outspoken L.A. sports fan Flea said in the comments of the post, “All respect and i can relate. But. GO DODGERS!!!!!!!!”
Read the full post from John Mayer about the 2024 New York Mets below.
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The post John Mayer Compares Dead & Co Sphere Run To Baseball In Reflection On Wild New York Mets Season appeared first on L4LM.
