The Phillies’ magic number is 8. The difference between making the postseason for the first time since 2011 and adding another September collapse is magic number 8. Any combination of Phillies wins and Brewers losses will get the job done for the club. They hold their own destiny and a 3-loss cushion, but failure to make the playoffs would be a disaster for this team.
The Phillies will start the final 10 games of their season in Chicago. They will take on the Cubs for three games while the Brewers take on the St. Louis Cardinals. The Phillies could easily carve out a bigger lead over the next three days, but they cannot overlook a Cubs team trying to play spoiler.
Spoiler Alert
The Chicago Cubs have nothing to play for once the Phillies take the field Tuesday night. The Cubs have been eliminated from the playoffs, and the players have no real motivations in this series. Chicago came to Philly earlier in the season and completed a sweep. The Cubs will have confidence they can do it again, but a hot start by the Phils could easily be enough for Chicago to shut down and roll over.
Playing spoiler is something all bad teams have pride in doing down the stretch. Once your season ends, major league players take pride in trying to stop their playoff hopefully opponents from getting in. Chicago has that opportunity here against the Phillies. While they should prefer the Phillies make the post-season rather than their division rival Milwaukee Brewers, they aren’t playing Milwaukee.
Playoff Rotation
It seems like the Phillies have revealed their playoff rotation, assuming they make it in. They reshuffled the order of their arms and will send Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, and Ranger Suarez to the mound. These are the three best pitchers the Phillies have, and the combination of Wheeler and Nola is one of the better duos in baseball.
This trio of arms will have a chance in Chicago to get into a groove. The Cubs lineup does not contain much of a threat, and their starting pitchers outside Marcus Stroman aren’t threatening. The Fightin’s have the advantage on the mound and should be able to flex it against Chicago. Wheeler and Nola have no excuse not to dominate their starts, and Ranger should have a good game on Thursday in the series finale.
A Week in a Glance
By the end of the week, the Philadelphia Phillies should be celebrating a playoff birth. With 7 games against the Chicago Cubs and Washington Nationals, they need to win at least 5.
The Brewers will face the Cardinals and the Marlins, two teams that are better than the two the Phillies face. The Cardinals are looking to lock up their division title, and the Marlins contain a rotation of dominant young arms. In order to pass the Phils, they will have to play exceptional baseball over the next week.
The San Diego Padres are still a factor in this playoff picture for Philadelphia. The Padres lead the Phils by 1.5 games for the 5th seed in the Wild Card. However, the Phillies only trail the Padres by one loss. Since the Phillies own the tiebreaker, a tie would give the Phillies the 5th seed over San Diego. The Padres have to play the Los Angeles Dodgers in a three-game series starting Tuesday night.
The push for the playoffs is going to get really interesting this week, but the Phillies should leave this upcoming weekend with their hand raised, and the fight for the playoffs then becomes a fight for the World Series.
AP Photo/Matt Slocum
