Ad Disclosure
Assessing the Possibility of the Phillies Catching the Brewers, and the Mets Missing the Playoffs Entirely
Published:
It is a great day to be a Phillies fan, wherever you are. The Phils swept the no good, rotten, stinking Mutts at Citizens Bank Park while the Brewers were swept by the Rangers. As such, the MLB standings look like this as of Friday morning:
Milwaukee with a two-game lead for the top seed, while the Mets are 1.5 games in front of both Cincinnati and San Francisco. The Reds are 6-4 in their last 10, with consecutive series wins over the Padres and Mets, while the Giants are 13-4 since August 23rd. Note that the Phillies lost the season series to the Brewers 2-4, so they do not have the tiebreaker and need to make up three games.
Remaining schedules now:
- Brewers: vs. Cardinals, vs. Angels, at Cardinals, at Padres, vs. Reds
- Phils: vs. Royals, at Dodgers, at D Backs, vs. Marlins, vs. Twins
- Mutts: vs. Rangers, vs. Padres, vs. Nationals, at Cubs, at Marlins
- Reds: at A’s, at Cardinals, vs. Cubs (4 games), vs. Pirates, at Brewers
- Giants: vs. Dodgers, at D Backs, at Dodgers (4 games), vs. Cardinals, vs. Rockies
And then the Padres finish up with the Rockies, Mets, White Sox, Brewers, and D Backs.
Lots of games against the Cardinals, though, for these teams currently in the mix. St. Louis is currently 72-75, the definition of bang average in the NL Central. The Brewers are 4-3 against the Cards thus far, with six games left to play against their divisional foes.
The Phils have that tough trip to LA and Arizona before getting an easy finish at home. The Mets you’d think will rebound with three straight series at home, where they are 45-27 this season and somehow cheating. We’ll find out out, soon enough. Then they go to Chicago, which probably determines their wild card fate.
It’s that Giants stretch that’s particularly interesting, with three straight series against LA, Arizona, and LA, so we’ll know soon enough whether San Fran is a contender and, by default, whether the Dodgers push the Phils at all for the second seed. Cincy does not face murderer’s row and has a real chance to push the Mets here.
Hypothetically speaking, I think most Phils fans would rather be on the Padres/Cubs side of the bracket, vs. the Dodgers/Mets side, should the seeding remain consistent.
Either way, it starts with the Phillies handling business at home this weekend against a Kansas City team that’s one game above .500. They’re not a player in the AL, but they’re five games back and still alive, despite losing four of their last five while not scoring a lot of runs.
Go out and get the job done and we shall see where the chips fall.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com