The Philadelphia Phillies are the second-best team in Major League Baseball heading into the final stretch of the regular season.
With 36 games left, the Phillies hold a seven-game lead over the Atlanta Braves.
Is the division title already the Phillies’?
The Phillies haven’t won the NL East since 2011 and have just 11 NL East division titles in the franchise’s history. This could finally be their year.
The Phillies will play the Braves five more times this season. There’s also the possibility the two rivals will play each other in the postseason like the previous two postseasons. The Phillies were able to upset the division-winner Braves as a Wild Card team in back-to-back years.
The remaining schedule isn’t necessarily hard for the Phillies, but it isn’t necessarily easy either. They’ll play the Toronto Blue Jays, Miami Marlins, Tampa Bay Rays, New York Mets, Chicago Cubs, and Washington Nationals. All of those teams are in third place or lower in their respective divisions, including two teams in last place.
The Phillies will also play the first-place Houston Astros, first-place Milwaukee Brewers, and second-place Kansas City Royals for three games each. They’ll play the Braves in a four-game series as well. Luckily for the Phillies, three of those four series are all coming up in a row. They’ll be able to get the hard part of the remaining schedule out of the way and finish the season against what should be easier opponents.
Phillies Have the Upper Hand on the Braves
The Braves are hanging around in the division race, but they’ve been hit with major injuries this year. Star outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. suffered a torn ACL at the beginning of the season, forcing him to miss the rest of the year. Their ace, Spencer Strider, underwent UCL surgery early in the season, forcing him to miss the rest of the year as well. Three-time All-Star second baseman Ozzie Albies has been out with a fractured wrist since July 21. He was expected to miss eight weeks with a likely return in mid-September. The Braves received news on Monday that two-time All-Star third baseman Austin Riley will miss 6 to 8 weeks with a broken hand. He’s expected to miss the remainder of the regular season.
The Braves have a talented team, even with the major injuries this year. They have a 67-59 record and hold the final NL Wild Card spot as of now. The Phillies can’t ease up and think that the NL East title is theirs. Rob Thomson’s team still has to go out and take care of business day in and day out, especially in the remaining games against the Braves.
The Phillies are the favorite to win the NL East in 2024 with -900 odds, according to Vegas Insider. The Braves are at +1200.
It would take a significant collapse for the Phillies not to win their first division title in 13 years.
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