After Another Loss to the Cubs, the Phillies Postseason Hopes Look Grim
It's the narrative that surrounds the Philadelphia Phillies this time every season: a September collapse.
But this season was supposed to be different. The team was too talented. For the most part, everyone was healthy down the stretch, and the club had one of the easiest remaining schedules coming out of the All-Star break.
Still, here they sit, with eight games left in the season, they hold only a 0.5 game lead over the Milwaukee Brewers for the final postseason spot in the National League. That lead was much larger, some thought insurmountable for the Brewers, just weeks ago.
But after a recent 3-9 stretch, Philadelphia's chances of making the postseason for the first time in 11 years don't only look slim, but they look downright grim.
Wednesday evening's 4-2 loss to the Chicago Cubs didn't help matters. Aaron Nola, who has been trying to shake off a stigma that he can't pitch in September, or big situations, looked great. . . until the fifth inning.
After cruising through four, Nola allowed four earned runs in the fifth inning, erasing their 1-0 lead, and giving the Cubs all the runs they would need to secure the victory for the evening. Three of those runs came off a three-run home run from Cubs centerfielder Christopher Morel.
Both Nick Castellanos, who made his return on Monday, and Rhys Hoskins looked great. Each notched three hits, while Jean Segura added two of his own.
But the offensive showing was not enough, lack of timely hitting, they scored just two runs scored on 11 hits. Not a recipe for success.
Chicago on the other hand ran out Hayden Wesneski to start. The rookie tossed 5.0 innings and allowed just one run. He was a player that both Inside the Phillies and Cubs staffs identified as a potential issue for Philadelphia in this series during a roundtable discussion.
The Phillies still hold a half game lead over the Brewers for the third and final Wild Card spot, but things will only get harder from here.
According to Matt Gelb of The Athletic, the Phillies will have to play a doubleheader against the Washington Nationals on Friday instead of Saturday as originally planned due to weather from Hurricane Ian. Then, due to weather again, if they can't play on Saturday, they will have another doubleheader on Sunday.
Finally, after all of that, Philadelphia will then have to fly and take on the AL number one seed the Houston Astros for a final series.
For a team that really needs to string some positive momentum together, that is a tough schedule with even tougher circumstances to get that going.
Meanwhile, Milwaukee gets to end its season with series against the Miami Marlins and the Arizona Diamondbacks.
So there you have it. Not only are the Phillies not playing well, they have an upcoming schedule that is not conducive to producing success (for any team) and the team chasing their tails has a significantly easier schedule.
Still, nothing is guaranteed in this sport. But had Philadelphia taken advantage of their lighter schedule weeks ago this may have all just been semantics.
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