JUPITER, Fla. — Zack Wheeler needed results Monday to keep alive the possibility of beginning the season with the Mets.

And that goal was realized with five relatively easy shutout innings against the Marlins in which he threw 70 pitches and kept his fastball in the 94-96 mph range with an effective curveball.

“I think today I proved that I am ready,” Wheeler said at Roger Dean Stadium, where the Mets won 5-0. “I knew today was a big day for me. I did the best that I could and we’ll leave it up to them and what they want to do, where they want to go and how they want to handle it.”

A day earlier manager Terry Collins hinted that Robert Gsellman would be in the starting rotation, largely leaving Wheeler’s fate to hinge upon whether Steven Matz can begin the season with the club. Noah Syndergaard, Jacob deGrom and Matt Harvey will occupy the top three spots in the rotation.

Matz, who has been bothered by left elbow irritation, made 55 throws on flat ground Monday and reported mixed results to pitching coach Dan Warthen, according to Collins. But by the end of the session Matz indicated he felt better than at the start, when he experienced discomfort.

For Matz to begin the season with the club, he would have to pitch in an exhibition game before the Mets break camp this week, and team officials are skeptical that will happen.

Wheeler could begin the season in Matz’s spot, but the Mets are also considering Seth Lugo, who allowed four earned runs on eight hits over 4 ¹/₃ innings in a split-squad game against the Nationals. Lugo is also a candidate to begin the season in the bullpen.

The Mets haven’t ruled out the possibility of using Wheeler in a bullpen role, but there is reluctance to go that direction given he’s never worked previously as a reliever. Plus, Wheeler has spent the last two years rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, and there are questions whether he can handle the pace of a relief role.

The other piece of the puzzle is Wheeler’s innings limit — somewhere in the 120-125 range. Should Wheeler begin the season in extended spring training to preserve his workload for later or go full throttle early, potentially ending his season in August?

These are issues that will be broached Tuesday, when team officials huddle to hammer out a roster.

“We’ve got to consider what is best for the player, what is best for the organization,” Collins said. “This is not time to experiment. This is time to win games.”

Wheeler understands the predicament facing the front office.

“It’s not fun having innings limits,” Wheeler said. “It puts pressure on them, it puts pressure on me. It’s not a fun thing to go through, but it’s happened in the past with certain guys through certain teams.

“It’s not fun, but it is part of it so I guess we’ve just got to handle it the best way possible. There is no set-in-stone way to handle somebody coming back from Tommy John [surgery] so there is just sorta what other guys have done and how they have responded, so I can go later in the year or I can go in the beginning of the year. Either way I will go out there and try to do the best that I can and help win some games.”

On Monday he rebounded from a sluggish performance against the Marlins last week in which he struggled to command his pitches. This time he allowed two hits and two walks with three strikeouts in the five innings.

“It was common sense coming into today that I needed to pitch a little better, more of a game today rather than working on stuff,” Wheeler said. “Today was more of a game for me, getting locked in a little bit more and really concentrating on the mound and try to get ahead of guys and that is what I did.”