What really just happened for Mets fans, like ¡°¡¯Twas the Night Before Christmas¡± a few nights early, can be traced back through 50 years of Mets history, all the way back to when Yogi Berra was their manager and once said this, famously and for all times in baseball:

¡°It ain¡¯t over till it¡¯s over.¡±

So it was with Carlos Correa, Mets owner Steve Cohen, the real star of the craziest baseball offseason of all the baseball offseasons we¡¯ve ever had, and the Giants, who had Correa until they reportedly didn¡¯t like something in his physical, at which point Correa was very much back in play, and so was Cohen.

Before it was all over, except for the shouting in San Francisco and all over baseball, we had one last surprise of free agency, and a whopper of a surprise it was. Correa wasn¡¯t on his way to San Francisco to play shortstop for the Giants next season, but instead he appears on his way to Citi Field (pending his physical, of course) to play third base next to Francisco Lindor.

¡°We needed one more thing,¡± Cohen told MLB Network insider Jon Heyman from Hawaii, ¡°and this is it.¡±

This was a plot twist from Cohen and the Mets that didn¡¯t come until the closing credits had started to roll. There is a great line in William Goldman¡¯s classic Hollywood book, ¡°Adventures in the Screen Trade,¡± from the time when Goldman had asked producer Robert Evans if a deal they¡¯d been working on together was set.

¡°Of course it¡¯s set,¡± Evans said before adding, ¡°It¡¯s just not set set.¡±

The deal that agent Scott Boras had brokered with the Giants was set. Just not set set. Just like that, Boras brought the richest owner in sports off the bench as the most expensive pinch-hitter in history and Cohen was swinging for the fences from Hawaii. The Mets had shown real interest in Correa all along. Then Correa took the second-biggest offer of free agency -- just $10 million less than the one Aaron Judge got to return to the Yankees -- from the Giants. Then the Giants balked, and now here we are.

Once George Steinbrenner, on the other side of New York baseball, became the most flamboyant owner in all of sports in the 1970s after he signed Catfish Hunter on New Year¡¯s Eve and signed Reggie Jackson to what felt like the biggest deal in the world before the 1977 season -- $3 million over five years -- and then signed Dave Winfield to a 10-year contract after that. Steinbrenner was the one in the center of the baseball bullseye. Now here comes Cohen, coming off a 101-win season, making another big move in an offseason full of them, roughly 10 weeks after the Mets lost their National League Wild Card Series to the Padres. It suddenly feels like 10 years ago because of everything that has happened since.

The Mets kept free agent Edwin D¨ªaz, the electric closer with the electric entrance to match.

They kept Brandon Nimmo, another free agent. Signed Justin Verlander to replace Jacob deGrom. Signed Japanese starter Kodai Senga, having introduced him just this past week. Signed setup man David Robertson away from the Phillies. And re-signed setup man Adam Ottavino.

But it is what happened with Correa early Thursday morning that has rocked the world of Mets fans and rocked the baseball world. Cohen wanted Correa, thought he¡¯d lost him, was clearly not scared off by what scared off the Giants, went back after him hard and appears to have gotten it done.

The Yankees went deeper into the playoffs this past October than the Mets did, making it to the American League Championship Series before being swept by the Astros. The Yankees then spent with both hands and brought back Judge, their big man, on the biggest deal they¡¯ve ever made, and just signed left-hander Carlos Rod¨®n. Even with all that, the Yankees feel like the Other Team in New York, at least for today, because of what just happened with Correa.

So now the Mets have their other $341 million man, Lindor, at short, Correa at third and Pete Alonso, who hit 53 home runs in 2019 and broke the Mets record with 131 RBIs in '22, at first. All they have at second base is the '22 NL batting champion in Jeff McNeil.

¡°My owner likes to win,¡± manager Buck Showalter keeps saying, every time the Mets bring in somebody new or spend enough to hold onto one of their own.

Mets fans like to call Cohen ¡°Uncle Steve.¡± Now he¡¯s not just the uncle who dressed up like Santa Claus this year. Turns out that for Mets fans, he is Santa Claus.