The Phillies won two of three games against the Mets this weekend and are on the verge of clinching the NL East title – their first in over a decade. In fact, they could do it this week.
The bigger prize in the regular season, however, is the No. 1 seed in the National League, which brings a bye to the divisional round and home-field advantage for the entire playoffs.
What needs to happen for the Phillies to make the postseason they want? An update:
The NL East
The Phillies’ magic number to win the NL East is five, with 13 games remaining. The Braves and Mets are tied for second place in the division, each eight games back. After three games against the Brewers (more on that in a moment), the Phillies travel to Queens next weekend to play the Mets four times. There’s a good chance they can seal the deal there – depending on what the Braves do at the same time.
To win the division crown, it is not a question of if, but when.
The number 1
Being the NL’s best player comes with a few advantages – the biggest of which is home field advantage in every round of the postseason. Philly has the most home wins in baseball this season, and their postseason home field advantage has been overwhelming in each of the last two October games.
Here’s a look at all of baseball (including the AL) and where things stand on September 16:
| team | Record | Great Britain |
| Phillies | 90-59 | — |
| Dodgers | 88-61 | 2 |
| Yankees | 87-63 | 3.5 |
| Breweries | 86-63 | 4 |
| Guardian | 86-64 | 4.5 |
The NL is in good shape to host the World Series this year, and the Phillies have a tiebreaker over the Dodgers – so they have a de facto three-game lead for first place in the postseason right now. They’ll be worrying about first place soon, but first…
A bye in the first round
If the Phillies hold on to their first place, they’ll get a bye to the NLDS. If they fall behind the Dodgers but still fend off the Brewers for second place in the NL, they’ll also get some time to rest since they’ll skip the wild card.
Based on recent history, it’s a little debatable whether the bye period is a good thing. It offers between four and five days off for a baseball team that has played 162 games without more than one day off (aside from the All-Star break) for six months. The Phillies actually benefited from not having a bye in their last two seasons. They breezed through the best two of three Wild Card rounds. In 2022, they swept St. Louis and then beat the rested Braves in four games. In 2023, they swept the Marlins and beat the rested Braves again in four games.
In these last two postseasons, teams with a first-round bye reached the divisional round with a score of 3-5.
The Phillies have a monumentally important series coming up in Milwaukee – which begins Monday night – as they currently have a guaranteed bye, four games ahead of the Brewers.
Here’s how this series against Rhys Hoskins and Co. can affect Philly’s playoff ranking:
Ranger Suárez, Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola are all scheduled to start against the Brewers.
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