This past week was another one marred by missed opportunities for the 2019 New York Mets.

The Wild Card race is slipping through the Mets fingers, as they continue to falter and drop chances to gain on the Chicago Cubs and the Washington Nationals. A prime example of a missed opportunity was the Mets disastrous ninth inning meltdown on Tuesday, as they yielded seven runs to drop a game they had to have. While the Mets rebounded to win the series the following day, a series sweep would have gone a long way for New York’s fleeting playoff hopes.

Then after a day off, the Mets opened their series with the Philadelphia Phillies and picked up a critic walk-off victory in the first game. The Mets then proceeded to drop the next two games against the Phillies, failing to capitalize on three-straight losses for the Cubs over the weekend.

Jeff McNeil led the Mets in RBIs this week, breaking out of a rare slump in a big way. Meanwhile Zack Wheeler turned in a solid start in the Mets pivotal series-clinching victory over the Nationals.

Player of the Week – Jeff McNeil

Last week, Jeff McNeil was held hitless in four of his five starts, as his batting average dropped 10 points from .333 to .323. With his elite contact skills, McNeil was due to burst out at some point and rebounded by recording hits in every game this week.

In the first game of the week, McNeil sparked a five-run fourth inning by hitting a two-run homer, in the Mets 7-3 victory. McNeil homered again in his next game, notching his 18th home run of the season. The blast was part of a 2-for-5 night, in which he drove in three runs and scored two.

McNeil led the Mets in RBIs this week with eight, while also sharing the team-lead in hits, home runs and runs scored.

McNeil’s stats this past week: .360/.467/.600, 9 H, 5 R, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 4 BB, 1.067 OPS

The Mets will now start a pivotal four-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday, which could make or break their season. They will need McNeil to remain a catalyst atop the lineup if they want to keep their playoff hopes alive.

Pitcher of the Week – Zack Wheeler

This was yet another week where it was hard to distinguish who the Pitcher of the Week should be. Noah Syndergaard had the best start of the week on Monday, when he blanked the Nationals across seven innings pitched. But Sunday’s four-run, five inning effort stained Syndergaard’s case for the title.

Out of the bullpen, Seth Lugo was once again effective, pitching three scoreless innings including two pivotal frames on Wednesday. Walker Lockett, Brad Brach and Daniel Zamora all had scoreless weeks out of the bullpen as well, but none made significant enough contributions to be named the Pitcher of the Week. Without any other alternative, Zack Wheeler’s win proved to be enough to be this week’s Pitcher of the Week.

Wheeler took the mound on Wednesday, mere hours after the Mets suffered their worst loss of the season. Wheeler actually woke up to the news that the Mets had lost, after heading home early to get rest for the day game start that lied ahead.

Maybe not being there helped Wheeler, as he worked his way through a pressure-packed start and without faltering. The right-handed hurler had to navigate plenty of traffic on the bases, but stranded eight Nationals and only allowed a single run. It may not have been Wheeler’s most dominant outing of the season, but he got the job done pitching five innings, before being removed for a pinch hitter as part of a three-run sixth inning for the Mets.

Wheeler’s line this week: 5 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 3 K, 2 BB

Wheeler is set to pitch again on Tuesday and will face a red-hot Zac Gallen for the Diamondbacks. Since being traded from the Miami Marlins at the deadline, Gallen has pitched to a 2.25 ERA in six starts with Arizona.