Counting down the Top 10 NY sports stories of 2021: No. 6 - Mets trade for, extend Francisco Lindor

We're counting down the Top 10 New York sports stories of 2021. Here is No. 6...

The Mets shook the baseball world in January when they swung a trade with Cleveland that brought Francisco Lindor and Carlos Carrasco to Queens.

Adding Lindor was one of the biggest moves in the history of the franchise, and the Mets and new owner Steve Cohen doubled down by signing him to a 10-year extension worth $341 million.

That the Mets and Lindor took until the eve of Opening Day — Lindor's self-imposed deadline — to get a deal done added a layer of drama to everything since Lindor was a year away from free agency.

While Lindor's arrival and extension were heralded, and had most Mets fans giddy, a large portion of the fan base had turned on him by May, with Lindor struggling at the plate as he adjusted to a new team in a new league.

There was also the fracas with Jeff McNeil in the dugout tunnel that led to the now-infamous "rat/raccoon" postgame news conference, and the "thumbs down" fiasco with Javier Baez.

But the most important thing to take away from Lindor's first season with the Mets was that from June on, he looked like the player he always had been.

From June 2 through the end of the season, Lindor slashed .253/.342/.480 with 16 homers, 11 doubles, and 51 RBI in 78 games. That stretch included his signature Mets moment(s), when he smacked three homers at Citi Field during a win over the Yankees in September.

Still just 28 years old, Lindor will enter next season with some important growing pains behind him and the hope that the end of 2021 will carry over to the beginning of 2022.

Counting Down the Top 10 NY Sports Stories of 2021

No. 10 -  Rangers firings and hirings

No. 9 - 20th anniversary of 9/11 attacks

No. 8 - Jacob deGromination... then injury

No. 7 - Kyrie Irving vaccine drama

No. 6 - Mets trade for, extend Francisco Lindor