In most seasons, Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor would be a National League MVP frontrunner. He is having the best season of his New York career, slashing .271/.342/.493 and has appeared in all 138 of his team's games as of September 3.

Lindor also leads the National League in at bats and plate appearances. He is on track to play at least 160 games for the third straight year — an unheard of feat in modern baseball.

All of that is enough for Mets President David Stearns to throw some lofty praise Lindor's way. Speaking to the media on Tuesday, Stearns was asked what an MVP looks like to him.

“I think he looks like the guy who runs out to shortstop at 7 o'clock,” he replied, according to MLB.com's Anthony DiComo.

Stearns added that Lindor is currently having  “the greatest” individual offensive season in Mets franchise history.

The Mets executive could be forgiven for being a tad hyperbolic. Lindor is riding a 13-game hitting streak in which he's hitting .352 with five home runs.

Unfortunately for Lindor and Stearns, Shohei Ohtani also exists and is the runaway favorite in the NL MVP race. As great as Lindor has been, Ohtani has a real shot at the first-ever 50-50 season in MLB history.

The Mets are 9-4 during Lindor's hitting streak, and with 24 games remaining in the regular season, he has them within half a game of the last National League Wild Card spot.

“It has been … bumpy,” Lindor said of the Mets' season in a recent interview with The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal. “It's one of those years where, coming in, you know you have something special. Obviously, we've all got to build to get to the place we want to get to. It didn't click right away. Then we started clicking. Then we started playing better.”

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Francisco Lindor tries to carry the Mets to the postseason

New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor (12) fields a throw and tags out Arizona Diamondbacks designated hitter Joc Pederson (3) during a run down during the seventh inning at Chase Field.
Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images

Not only is Lindor on a hot streak, his biggest hits have come at opportune times. Take his fourth-inning home run off of Garrett Crochet over the weekend. His shot broke a scoreless tie in a pitcher's duel that the Mets went on to win 2-0. Or the sixth-inning game-tying home run he hit against the Diamondbacks on August 29 in a game the Mets went on to win, 5-3.

Now, the Mets are back home after a 7-3 road trip, taking on a Boston Red Sox team also vying for a playoff spot.

“We're in a good spot,” Lindor said after the Mets swept the White Sox in Chicago. “We were in the same spot that we were before the road trip. We’re in a position that we still got a chance for playoffs, and we've got to continue to climb the mountain.”

It's still an uphill battle. FanGraphs gives the Mets a 35.7% chance at the playoffs before their game Tuesday. The Mets' remaining schedule isn't forgiving, either. From here, New York plays six straight games against sub-.500 teams before finishing the regular season with 13 of their final 16 against likely playoff teams.