PHILADELPHIA — The Mets‘ comeback magic might not be magical at all. Sure, you could say it’s their never-say-die attitude or their ability to dig in against tough bullpens, but after the sun went down Saturday night, the Mets plated five runs in the eighth inning of Game 1 of the NLDS. Maybe all the Mets needed was to be able to see the ball. “You had those shadows that weren’t fun,” said third baseman Mark Vientos after the Mets defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 6-2 at Citizens Bank park. “It was very tough.” With a 4 p.m. ET start time, much of the left side of the field was under a harsh shadow in the early innings, home plate included. It’s not like Phillies right-hander Zack Wheeler needs much help, but the Mets were having trouble picking up on his pitches for much of his seven-inning outing. Brandon Nimmo tried wearing sunglasses, then he tried removing them. He still couldn’t see. “I couldn’t see [the ball] out of his hand and then once I did pick it up, it was just a black ball and I couldn’t see any laces — I couldn’t see anything,” Nimmo said. “So you literally are just swinging at a black ball. You’re hoping it’s in the middle of the plate when you see it. And then like that last one just disappeared.” J.D. Martinez didn’t have to face Wheeler, with the Mets using Jesse Winker at DH to start the game and pinch-hitting for him with Martinez late. Although Martinez has somehow never faced Wheeler in his 14-year MLB career, he wasn’t jealous of his teammates who were trying to hit pitches that are typically tough pick up in any environment. “Good luck,” Martinez said. “It’s hard enough to see that guy with no shadows.” Once the sun went down and the stadium lights came on, the Mets could suddenly see. However, the Mets and Phillies are both going to have contend with the shadows throughout the entire series. With the league trying to stagger the start times of games, they had to give the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres the primetime slot due to the time change on the West Coast. The Yankees and Kansas City Royals were given the East Coast primetime slot. The Mets and Phillies, and the Cleveland Guardians and Detroit Tigers are slated for afternoon games. This is especially important with two New York teams playing in the postseason. The Mets and Yankees won’t have to play at the same time, providing maximum exposure for each team in the country’s largest media market. But it does create the shadow issue. “I don’t know if I was seeing much. It was hard to see the baseball, for sure,” Vientos said. “But both teams were dealing with it. It’s not something that we’re going to be like, ‘Man, we can’t see,’ and just toss our bats to the side. It’s something we have to deal with. Both teams are dealing with it.” To say the sun going down led to the Mets’ being able to come back and take a lead would be too simplistic. It also wouldn’t take into account the come-from-behind wins earlier this week in Atlanta and Milwaukee. Over their last six games, the Mets have scored 18 runs in the eighth and ninth innings. In the same six games, they’ve managed only 11 runs in the first seven innings. It’s even more impressive when you consider the Mets fell behind 0-2 five times in the eighth inning in Game 1. The Mets won more comeback games (41) than they lost (37) during the regular season. The more they dig in late in games and score, the more they reinforce the belief that they’re never out of it, especially with how tight postseason games are played. “We just continue to grind at-bats, continue to take it one pitch and one at-bat a time, and good things will happen,” said manager Carlos Mendoza. “I think the biggest thing is not trying to do too much in those situations, and we’ve been able to do that as of late.” The Mets didn’t even have any extra-base hits in the eighth inning. Hitter by hitter, they used their lineup length to put the ball in play and scored on two sacrifice flies. Shadows or no shadows, the Mets are continuing to produce when down in games late. It’s baseball, so battling the elements will always be part of the game. “It’s not about the hits, it’s about the energy at the plate and competing every single bat,” said infielder Jose Iglesias. “And I think we did that. We did that, you know? And regardless of whether you get one hit or 20 hits, the energy has got to be there and it was there. “We just never give up.”