The New York Mets have been red hot as they make a playoff push, but the ball club will have to get by without a key player for the rest of the season.

Jeff McNeil took a pitch off the wrist in Friday's win over the Cincinnati Reds and he's been ruled out for the remainder of 2024. Via Bob Nightengale:

“Mets infielder Jeff McNeil is out for the season with a fractured wrist.”

McNeil stayed in the game but by the time his next at-bat arrived, the veteran's wrist had completely swollen up. Harrison Bader took his place in the lineup. What makes this news even worse is that McNeil was one of the Mets' best hitters since the All-Star break. In 41 contests since July 19th, the 32-year-old is slashing .289 with seven homers.

Jose Iglesias, who the Mets signed to a minor league deal last December, will likely replace McNeil. That's not terrible considering the infielder has been playing extremely well since being promoted in late May, batting .312. He's also historically known as a great defender.

McNeil not ruling out playoff return with Mets

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McNeil spoke about his injury on Saturday and said he could potentially be back in the lineup if New York makes a deep run in October. Via Sportsnet:

“If you see me on the field again, that's a really good thing. That means we're deep in the playoffs,” McNeil told reporters Saturday. “I wanna say I can come back and help contribute, but who knows? We gotta kinda see how it heals in the next few weeks. I think it might be a pain management kind of thing, so we'll see.”

A wrist injury is a tricky one considering it's so involved in every baseball movement. It'll be interesting to see if he could play again at some point in '24. The Mets have won eight straight games and currently sit in a tie with the Atlanta Braves for the final Wild Card berth in the National League.