Next up in the pre-playoff gauntlet for the Philadelphia Phillies is a four-game set with the New York Mets at Citi Field.

The Mets are a -145 favorite to win the series at DraftKings Sportsbook, while the Phillies are a +110 series underdog.

The Phils come into Queens with a 5-4 mark over their last nine road games. There’s one series win, a series split, and the recent series loss to Milwaukee in that mix.

Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper, and Co. just took two of three from the Mets at home last week and they have a 6-3 season record against the second-place team in the National League East.

It’s easy to question why the Phillies have been put in this position by the odds makers, but when you dig into the pitching matchups, there’s good reason to think it’ll be a grind.


Taijuan Walker is back in the No. 5 starting spot that we thankfully only get to see two more times this season. He opens the series on Thursday. Cristopher Sanchez, who struggles more on the road, is up on Friday with Ranger Suarez and Zack Wheeler to follow.

The Phillies will clinch a playoff spot at some point in the series. They need a win on Thursday to get it out of the way from the start.

The NL East title is within reach as well. The Phillies have a seven-game edge on the Mets and a nine-game lead on the Braves, who play Cincinnati on Thursday and then Miami this weekend, with 10 regular-season games to go.

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The Mets just swept Washington and now have three playoff-esque series against the Phils, Braves, and Brewers. Francisco Lindor is hurt, but Ronald Acuna’s younger brother, Luisangel, has filled in well and their rotation is still pitching well.

Thursday starter Luis Severino hasn’t given up more than three earned runs in five of his last six starts, although the Phils got him for three runs last week. David Peterson reached the seventh inning in four his last six appearances and basically went strikeout-for-strikeout with Sanchez last Sunday. Sean Manaea rediscovered his ace form and Tylor Megill has been solid in his three September starts.

It doesn’t take a genius to tell you that winning these playoff-type games are hard, and we’ll likely see low-scoring games on Saturday and Sunday.

Thursday is a crapshoot depending on what the Phils can get out of Walker and they need Sanchez to be just average on Friday over five or six innings before the bullpen takes over.

Clinching the playoff spot and at least maintaining the seven-game lead in the division are the two primary goals of the series. Sure, winning three or four games against the Mets would be fun, but if the Phils win two and clinch the division against the Chicago Cubs on Monday, everything will be just fine.