The Phillies came out of their weekend series with the Braves in a better postseason spot, even if the bigger picture still looks a little messy. Sunday’s win, paired with losses elsewhere, knocked Philadelphia’s magic number for a playoff berth down to nine with 12 games left.
That number matters because it gives the Phillies a simple measure of how close they are to locking up October baseball. They opened the series in Atlanta with a magic number of 12, then shaved it down to nine over the three-game set.
Now the schedule shifts to a stretch that should give Philadelphia a real chance to keep trimming that number. Monday is an off day, a needed breather for a team that looked worn down after the Braves series.
From there, the Phillies head to Washington for three games against the Nationals, then move on to New York for three against the Mets. That means six straight games against clubs with no shot at the postseason.
After that, Philadelphia closes the regular season with the Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays, who lead the National League and American League, respectively.
If the Phillies want to avoid sweating this thing out late, they need to do damage against those weaker division opponents now. The ideal outcome is obvious: clinch early, set up the rotation for a Wild Card series, and give regulars some time to catch their breath.
That urgency got a little sharper when Jesús Luzardo was scratched from Saturday’s scheduled start because of left shoulder stiffness. The 28-year-old has been one of the sport’s best pitchers in the second half, and he had been in the mix to start Game 1 of the playoff run.
If Philadelphia can lock up its Wild Card spot in the next few days, the club can take its time with Luzardo and give him as much rest as possible before the postseason begins. If not, the Phillies could be forced to lean on him sooner than they’d like.
That would be the ugly version of this story. It would mean the Phillies are still trying to finish the job while their competition keeps winning, and it could stretch out - or even jeopardize - their path to October. And even if they do get there, pushing a pitcher through an injury scare that has already claimed the baseball lives of Cy Young Award winners would raise the stakes in a hurry.
For the Phillies, the formula is simple. Win games, shrink the magic number, and take the pressure off the final stretch. Do that, and Luzardo gets time to heal while the team lines itself up for the playoff run it’s trying to protect.
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Phillies Just Got Strong Outside Validation As Real World Series Threats
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Even with some inconsistency during the season, the broader view around the league is that the Phillies have enough high-end talent to stay in the World Series conversation. The executive even suggested that if Philadelphia ends up in the postseason as a Wild Card team, the staff alone could make that path far less daunting than it looks on paper, which is the kind of outside validation contenders tend to notice. [Read more 🡒]