Mets’ season rests in the hands of Jose Quintana: ‘If anybody can do it, it’s him’

MILWAUKEE — Jose Quintana wanted this.

Last month he acknowledged that Sean Manaea, Luis Severino and David Peterson had crea꧋ted a solid top three𒆙 in the Mets rotation. 

“Definitely, I want to be in the [postseason] rotation,” Quintana said on Sept. 7, “and I know I need to win that spot.” 

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He has won it, and the Mets season 🔥rests in the 35-year-old’🗹s left hand. 

Quintana will get the ball for the do-or-die Game 3 after the Brewers surged ahead in the eighth inning Wednesday for a 5-3 win that knotted the wild-card series at American Family Field. 

Thursday it will beꦍ the 13th-year big leaguer against rookie right-hander Tobias Myers in a battle of soft-tossers from different ends of the age spectrum. 

The Mets pitching d🧸rainage has helped — Manaea, Severinౠo and Peterson are not available — but Quintana has put himself in this position.

In a season-ending sprint, the veteran allowed just three earned runs in his final 36 ¹/₃ innings (0.74 ERA), elevating hi🐎s status from an October bullpen option to now owning𒅌 the most critical start of the Mets season. 

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The bad news for Quintana and the Mets is that two of those runs in the stretch were given up in his most recent outing, when༺ Quintana lasted 4 ¹/₃ innings against the Brewers on Saturday.

He pitched just OK and struck out nine. 

Quintana has historically pitched꧒ well against the Brewers and has pitched decently in the p💃ostseason, in which he owns a 3.86 ERA in five games. 

“I’m really excited,” said Quintana, who has not pitched in October since 2022 with the Cardinals.🍌 “I think it’s a privilege to get this opportunity to pitch in the postseason one more time.” 

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Quintana has watche🍃d Severino and Man⛎aea pitch solidly, if not spectacularly, in Games 1 and 2. 

“Everyt✅hing,” Manaea said🍬 about his confidence in his rotation-mate. “Q’s unbelievable. He’s a veteran, pitches well, pitches with confidence. ;

“I think if anybody can do it, it’s him.” 

It will have to be, orꦛ the Mets season would be over. 

“Keep doing the same,” Quintana, who will be a free agent at the season’s end, said of his mindset. “Never change my approach. Kee🌱p throwing the ball the same way I’ve been doing. … This is a really important game for us.”