After clutch homer vs Cubs, Francisco Alvarez links his mindset to Conor McGregor, Manny Pacquiao, and other combat sports stars

Francisco Alvarez's two-run homer in the eighth inning against the Cubs proved to be the difference-maker in the Mets' must-win game on Tuesday. Alvarez has been playing through a sprained UCL in his right thumb and a broken left pinky for quite some time.

The backstop's mentality to play despite these injuries has gotten admiration from skipper Carlos Mendoza and Mets teammates. Interestingly, Alvarez's decision to play through injury has some connection to popular combat sports athletes.

Soon after the Mets' victory, Alvarez shared a post from "Begination" on his Instagram story. Aligning with the message on the post, the Mets catcher reacted with three emojis.

Francisco Alvarez's Instagram story [Image Source: Instagram/franciscoalvarez.13]

The cover image of the post showed Conor McGregor, followed by Manny Pacquiao, Francis Ngannou, and Muhammad Ali. All four athletes faced trials and tribulations, from poverty to legal battles, before achieving superstardom.

"Either you break your limits, or you consume yourself in your comfort zone," the last picture in the post read (translated to English from Spanish).

The first four images in the post showed the athletes at their lowest points in the upper part of the collage, followed by their moments of success in the lower part.

Francisco Alvarez opens up about his dramatic home run

The New York Mets were one of the favourites to enter the postseason at the beginning of the season. Now, they are battling the Cincinnati Reds and Arizona Diamondbacks for the final wildcard spot.

Had they lost Tuesday's game against the Cubs, they would've been behind the Reds due to their inferior head-to-head record. Fortunately for the Mets, Francisco Alvarez and Edwin Diaz pulled them out of the jaws of defeat.

Following the victory, Alvarez talked to reporters about his dramatic home run. Although he played a big part in the victory, the Mets catcher gave due credit to Edwin Diaz for saving the game.

"You know, I was excited," Alvarez said [Timestamp 2:00]. I was super excited for the moment, obviously, because we took, we took the lead in that eighth inning. And I knew that that Sugar is coming into the game and he was going to stay in the game. I'm so, so it's for give us the best chance to win."

Although he missed multiple games due to injury, Alvarez has hit 10 homers, which is one more than his tally the previous season. Moreover, his current batting average of .258 is also his career-best in a single season.