McNeil joins Mets in Philly, hopes to play later in playoffs

PHILADELPHIA -- Earlier this week, Jeff McNeil was in bed with his wife, Tatiana, in a California hospital room as the couple waited for their second child to arrive. In the ninth inning of a two-run game in Milwaukee, Pete Alonso came to the plate with two men on base.

“Maybe a home run right here,” McNeil said to Tatiana.

“Don’t go crazy,” his wife warned him, knowing others in the ward were trying to sleep.

“I tried to contain myself,” McNeil recalled later, laughing at his reaction to Alonso’s legendary three-run homer. “It was a pretty special moment, and I was pretty happy for Pete.”

For most of the past two weeks, McNeil has watched the Mets’ playoff run from afar. The longtime Mets second baseman and outfielder, who has been nursing a fractured right wrist since Sept. 6, flew home in late September to be with his wife as she approached her due date. As such, he’s missed many of the signature moments of this run -- Alonso’s homer, the Mets’ clinch parties in Atlanta and Milwaukee, and more.

That changed Sunday, when McNeil stepped off a redeye flight to Philadelphia and rejoined the Mets as a proud father of two. Serena McNeil was born on Friday, and both mom and baby are healthy. That’s freed McNeil to return to his day job, with notable aspirations for later this month.

Now four weeks and two days removed from an injury that Mets officials initially estimated would sideline him for four to six weeks, McNeil is back to performing a full slate of baseball activities: running, hitting, taking ground balls, throwing to bases and more. About the only thing he has yet to accomplish is facing live pitching, which should occur this week.

Neither McNeil nor manager Carlos Mendoza ruled out the possibility that he could be ready for the National League Championship Series, which will begin Oct. 13, if the Mets advance that far.

“I’m hoping for anything,” McNeil said when asked specifically about the NLCS. “[My wrist] is feeling good. I’ve got to go off the advice of the training staff and what this team needs. I want to be ready to play. I know there’s a few more steps I need to take care of in order to be ready. So we’ll work on that, and it’s going to be just kind of a day-to-day thing. When my time’s called, I’ll be ready.”

If McNeil can return, it would be a boon for the Mets for multiple reasons. One, it would allow the team to give some rest to veteran second baseman Jose Iglesias, a 34-year-old who has played every inning of every game since Sept. 19. Two, it would bring more left-right balance to a lineup that’s been righty-heavy.

It would also provide the Mets with another potent bat. The 2022 NL batting champion, McNeil shook off a sluggish first half to slash .289/.376/.547 in 41 games between the All-Star break and the time of his injury, which occurred on a hit-by-pitch. That strong run noticeably improved the fiery McNeil’s disposition, earning him the moniker “Happy Jeff.”

This week in California, he said, watching the Mets win and welcoming a baby girl into the world, “I was Happy Jeff for sure.”

“I wish I could have been with the team to celebrate,” he added. “That’s one thing I have missed. But I had some important things to address.”