NEW YORK -- Inevitability struck at 7:36 p.m.

For five innings Wednesday at Citi Field, the Mets had applied relentless pressure on the Phillies. They took their walks. They rapped out hits. They did so many of the things that had made them the National League’s foremost juggernaut throughout the second half of the season, and yet their side of the scoreboard still read zero.

Finally, in the sixth, Francisco Lindor approached the plate with the bases loaded. If ever there was a player who embodies the turnaround of this organization, the shift from a perpetually bumbling team to a dangerous one, it is Lindor. In less than five months, Lindor has led a transformation so profound that at this point, as president of baseball operations David Stearns put it, “everyone in the ballpark seemingly knew what was going to happen” when he came to the plate.

“And then to do it,” Stearns continued, “is just absurd.”

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Lindor turned on a 99.4 mph Carlos Estévez fastball, powering it over the right-center-field fence for his second career playoff grand slam and the second slam in Mets postseason history.

A little more than an hour later, he barreled his way through the home clubhouse, champagne bottle in hand, eager to spray anyone in his path. Alcohol had so drenched him that it dripped off his baseball cap in a steady stream, soaking the locks of hair that splayed out beneath it. This was the first champagne celebration for the Mets in Citi Field history, the product of a 4-1 win in NL Division Series Game 4 that sent them to the NL Championship Series against the Padres or Dodgers. Lindor’s slam had made it happen.

“Just in awe,” teammate Pete Alonso said. “That was the swing of a lifetime.”

“I keep saying you could write a book,” added manager Carlos Mendoza. “You could make a movie.”

It was perhaps the most impactful swing in Citi Field history, one that will live in franchise lore. It was also another high point for Lindor, another level up in a season full of them.

When the Mets acquired him in January 2021, they were a transitioning franchise. The hope was that Lindor, a bona fide superstar in Cleveland who had reached the World Series at age 22, could imbue some of his apparent pixie dust on the Mets. He could not, at least not initially. Despite large payrolls that his own $341 million contract helped bloat, the Mets continued to fall short. Lindor, a very good player throughout that run, never stamped his signature on the type of moment folks would remember.