Last week, the Phillies clinched the NL East title, guaranteeing another year of Red October and the opportunity to play for a World Series. While winning the NL East is nice, getting a first-round bye would be amazing for a team that’s been banged up down the stretch. With six games remaining in the regular season, the Phillies look forward to closing out the season and then preparing for what is hopefully a memorable Red October run.
Six Games Remain
The Phillies return home this week with an off day on Monday, so they have time to settle in after the West Coast road trip. While on the road trip, the Phillies took 2/3 from the Los Angeles Dodgers, including the NL East clinching win Monday night. After the emotional series win over the Dodgers, the Phillies would lose 2/3 to the Arizona Diamondbacks, a team fighting for that last spot in the NL Wild Card race.
I’m not putting much stock into the series loss to the Diamondbacks because they did take the series from the Dodgers. By Sunday, I could imagine the team just wanting to return home.
The Phillies have six games remaining in the season, all of which are at home. In fact, the Phillies have an opportunity to play at home until game 3 of the NLDS, which would be Wednesday, October 8th. That leaves 17 days in between road games for the Phillies. Something I think will help this team a lot. The Phillies have a three-game series against the Miami Marlins (76-80) and the Minnesota Twins (67-89). It’s kind of poetic that the Phillies are ending their season against the team that traded them their two most important deadline acquisitions. Harrison Bader and Jhoan Duran have been amazing for the Phillies and have certainly performed above expectations. Those six games are very winnable, but the Phillies are still three games back of the Brewers for the one seed, so they would need a miracle to secure that top seed.
Playoff Positioning
The Phillies will most likely finish with the two seed in the National League, which is good for the sake of the first-round bye. While some are scared about the time off during Wild Card games, this team needs to get healthy and also give the pitching staff a much-deserved rest. Trea Turner is expected to return for the last series of the season, and Alec Bohm made his return against the Diamondbacks. Bohm homered in his second game back and made his impact felt immediately. Having Bohm back in this lineup is huge, especially with runners on base. Getting Trea Turner back will be another massive boost for the offense, in hopes that he returns to the player he’s been all year. Turner was hitting .305 when he was placed on the IL a few weeks ago.
While the top three seeds are all solidified, with the Brewers, Phillies, and Dodgers, the other three spots could all be shuffled come next week. The Chicago Cubs are 88-68 and hold the top Wild Card spot, followed by the 85-71 San Diego Padres. Those two spots are very likely to remain the Cubs and Padres. That last spot, however, is completely up for grabs. Yes, that means the New York Mets might miss the playoffs (Bummer). The Cincinnati Reds and New York Mets are both tied with the same record, 80-76, with the Reds holding a tiebreaker over the Mets. The Arizona Diamondbacks are 79-77, just one game back of that last spot. The final six games for these teams are going to be must-watch TV, so if you are a baseball fan, I suggest you tune in.
While anything can happen in these final six games, I don’t think any Phillies fan would be opposed to the Mets not making the playoffs. The Cincinnati Reds have been a team I’ve liked all year and would be an interesting club to see make the postseason. As for the Diamondbacks, I want our revenge from 2023.
Upcoming Week
I expect the Phillies to hopefully win 4/6 games to close out the season. I would like them to finish strong so they go into the bye with some confidence before having to ramp it up again for postseason baseball. We are nearly one week away from the greatest time of year. Buckle up, Phillies fans.
Prediction of the week: Alec Bohm homers twice at home this week, continuing his great performance since returning from injury.
Oh, and the Mets miss the playoffs, and the Reds take the last spot.
Categorized:Phillies
Matt Saglembeni
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