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The stars spoke brave words Friday night, but even stars never really know if they’ll be able to back up their promises with action. As they spoke, the season felt like it was teetering over the side of a cliff, and Mets fans were completely engaged in a full-blown (and perfectly understandable) panic.

But Francisco Lindor had said: “I believe in this team.”

Pete Alonso had said: “I know we have our work cut out for us, but I’m confident.”

Jacob deGrom had said: “That’s what we love doing, competing, and going out there in big situations.”

Remarkably, one by one, the stars all stepped forward for the Mets and demanded to be counted on Saturday night when they most desperately needed them to, and you can add Edwin Diaz into that mix. Together they gave themselves at least one more day of baseball, at least one more day of summer, with a gritty 7-3 win over the Padres to even their NL wild-card series at one-game apiece.

“Today we played our game,” Lindor said shortly after the game, to SNY, “and we came out on top.”

Lindor was first up, crushing a first-inning home run off Blake Snell, which was exactly what the folks who packed Citi Field were pleading for. Alonso broke a 2-2 tie in the fifth inning with his own monster blast, and deGrom contributed six solid innings on a night when he never seemed to truly trust his fastball, getting many of his 18 outs on off-speed pitches.

The Mets could use at least three of those guys — Lindor, Alonso and Diaz — to back up their Saturday heroics with a similar effort Sunday, an all-hands-on-deck free-for-all that will determine if they get to board a plane bound for Los Angeles or to return to Citi Field on Monday to stuff their belongings in baggies.

Nothing much on the line there, of course, except the season.

In truth, everything was on the line Saturday night, too, the crowd of 42,156 tense and taut from deGrom’s first pitch, a 99 mph fastball to Jurickson Profar, equal parts frightened and furious, anxious and exhilarated. Twice, the Mets gave deGrom a lead and twice, he handed it back to San Diego — before Alonso’s blast against Nick Martinez leading off the fifth.

“This was really special,” Alonso said. “Our dugout was fantastic. The boys were ready to go today.”

It was in the seventh when manager Buck Showalter summoned Diaz, the earliest the Mets’ closer has appeared in a game all year. But Showalter wanted to make sure that Diaz would be the one to face Juan Soto, Manny Machado and Josh Bell, who were three batters away from coming up. And Diaz faced all three, even though he had to sit for more than 50 minutes as the Mets added to their lead in the seventh inning.

And though Adam Ottavino, who followed Diaz with two outs in the eighth, did his very best to sabotage all of the Mets’ good work — walking three and hitting a batter in the ninth and needing Seth Lugo to bail him out of the pickle by retiring Bell with the bases jammed — the stars had given them just enough of a push before the rest of the gang joined in.

And, in truth, since Jeff McNeil is now the reigning batting champ in all of MLB, he should probably be included in the Mets’ celestial roster. He sure earned that slot Saturday, providing what was probably the most important hit of the night, a two-run double in the seventh that gave the Mets breathing room, expanding a 3-2 lead to 5-2.

So there will be a Sunday night for the Mets, an opportunity for redemption after a late-season skid that threatened to careen into the swamp Saturday. If this was, indeed, deGrom’s last start as a Met, he acquitted himself well, striking out eight across six innings and 99 pitches. He struck out Machado three times, twice with two runners on, bookend bursts of brilliance.

“I was just trying to make pitches when I needed to,” deGrom said. “They hit a few good pitches but mostly I thought I did that.”

Alonso got his first October moment in what he certainly believes will be a string of them. Lindor made certain his personal nine-game postseason losing streak (going back to the 2017 ALDS with Cleveland) ended with the huge blast early, and he added a single and a walk. And Diaz might’ve been used unconventionally, but he was effective. And he should be available Sunday if he’s needed.

“I’ll be ready,” he said. “We have to win [Sunday].”

Diaz and friends made sure they’d be playing a 165th game Sunday. They need to have one more night just like it, and they’ll get a whack at the Dodgers. Nothing much on the line there, of course, except the season.