The Phillies are this close to punching their ticket, but the path here has been anything but smooth. With their magic number down to nearly nothing, Philadelphia can clinch a fifth straight playoff berth with a win and an Arizona Diamondbacks loss.
Even now, with three games left, the Phils are only two games ahead of Arizona and still don’t hold the tiebreaker. It’s been a tense sprint to the finish.
That kind of late-season pressure always sorts teams and players into clear categories. Some have helped drag the Phillies here. Others have watched their chances slip away.
Arizona is the obvious loser in all of this. In a league where only six National League teams make the postseason and 15 are trying to get there, somebody has to be left out.
The Braves, Brewers and Dodgers have already locked up division titles, while the Cubs, Padres and Phillies sit in the Wild Card picture. Arizona is the last NL club still hanging around with any real chance to jump one of those teams, but that window is closing fast.
The Phillies, Padres and Cubs have kept the Diamondbacks at arm’s length, and their own magic numbers are nearly gone. Short of a miracle, Arizona is going to miss the party.
The biggest Phillies winner might be the one most fans were ready to write off months ago: Alec Bohm. For a long stretch, he looked like a player stuck in neutral.
Through the end of July, Bohm was sitting on a rough .647 OPS with only 29 extra-base hits in 105 games, and plenty of fans wanted the team to move on after Luis Arraez arrived at the trade deadline. The Phillies stuck with him, and that decision has paid off in a big way.
Since August 1, Bohm has ripped off a .866 OPS with 16 extra-base knocks and 29 RBI in 45 games. That surge has lifted his season OPS to .711 and given the Phillies a much-needed right-handed bat at exactly the right time.
Another clear loser: Orion Kerkering. The right-hander’s name still carries the memory of last October, when his throw ended the Phillies’ season in the National League Division Series.
This year was supposed to be a reset, but it never really happened. Kerkering has struggled badly over the last few weeks, putting up a 10.29 ERA in his last 15 appearances.
After years of speculation about whether he could handle the biggest moments, the Phillies finally acted on that concern. His four-run collapse against the Mets on Saturday sent him to Triple-A, which means he’s now out of the mix for any playoff run.
There’s also Don Mattingly, who deserves mention in the winner column even if the fit remains messy. Back in April, the Phillies looked finished after a 9-19 start under Rob Thomson and the club moved on from the bench boss.
Mattingly stepped in as interim manager and helped turn the season around fast enough to put Philadelphia on the doorstep of another postseason trip. Fans may still have plenty of complaints about him, and it’s no sure thing he’ll be back in charge next season, but he has at least given himself a real chance to shed the interim tag after that turnaround.
In Other News...
Phillies Suddenly Have A New October Worry With Luis Arraez
Luis Arraezs night ended early Thursday after he came up limping on a play at first base, giving the Phillies a fresh health concern as the regular season winds down. The initial diagnosis is a sprained ankle, and the next step is further evaluation, but even that first update is enough to add some unease around a team trying to get through the final stretch in one piece.
For Philadelphia, the timing matters as much as the injury itself. Any absence for Arraez could ripple into the clubs final games before the MLB playoffs, where even a minor setback can affect lineup plans, rhythm, and late-season momentum. The Phillies are already close enough to October to feel every scare, and this one arrives with no shortage of relevance. [Read more 🡒]
Phillies Are Asking A Lot From Two Arms They Can't Afford To Lose
The Phillies are heading into October with a bullpen they cant exactly trust to carry the load, so the plan has shifted toward squeezing more out of the arms at the top. Manager Don Mattingly is expected to lean heavily on closer Jhoan Duran and set-up man Alex McFarlane, with the hope that longer outings from the starters can keep the rest of the relief group out of the fire.
It is a precarious way to navigate a postseason, especially for a bullpen that has ranked 27th in ERA since September and has offered few dependable options beyond those two. The idea is simple enough on paper, but the part the Phillies have to live with now is whether Duran and McFarlane can handle the extra workload without becoming the very thing the club is trying to avoid losing. [Read more 🡒]
Phillies Could Get A Huge October Arm Back At The Right Time
Jess Luzardos status is suddenly one of the more interesting September subplots for the Phillies as October nears. The left-hander has been sidelined by left shoulder inflammation, but he now sounds like a pitcher who believes the worst of it is behind him, and that matters for a rotation built to shorten games when the stakes rise.
Luzardo also brings the kind of postseason flexibility contenders covet, saying he would take on whatever role the club needs once the playoffs begin. For a pitcher who has made six playoff appearances without a win, the chance to come back healthy and matter in a different way could be just as important as the timing of his return. [Read more 🡒]