Phillies Gain Ground on Brewers in Race for Top NL Playoff Seed

The Philadelphia Phillies took advantage of a bad game from the Milwaukee Brewers to improve their shot at the top playoff seed.

Philadelphia Phillies center fielder Harrison Bader (2) gets ready in the dugout against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

The Philadelphia Phillies entered their series with the Arizona Diamondbacks this weekend in need of every win possible to track down the top seed in the National League playoffs. They're off to a good start.

The Phillies (92-62) beat the Diamondbacks, 8-2, on Friday. Philadelphia has already won the National League East Division, and it has a significant cushion over the Los Angeles Dodgers for the No. 2 seed in the National League playoffs. But there is an opening for Philadelphia to make up ground in Milwaukee.

The Phillies needed help offensively after falling behind 2-0 in the first inning against the Diamondbacks. Philadelphia steadily made up ground, beginning with an Alec Bohm double that drove in Brandon Marsh in the second inning. Philadelphia tied up the game in the fifth inning on a solo home run by Harrison Bader.

The game remained tied until the sixth inning when Weston Wilson singled home marsh to give the Phillies a 3-2 lead. In the eighth inning Nick Castellanos gave the Phillies a little insurance with a two-run home run to give Philadelphia a three-run lead. Philadelphia poured on three more runs in the ninth.

Phillies Make Move for No. 1 Seed

A Casty blasty blows this one open 💥 pic.twitter.com/NlrqtgDwp8

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) September 20, 2025

The Phillies entered Friday’s action three games back of the Milwaukee Brewers with nine games remaining. For Philadelphia, the number to remember was four, as in the Phillies need to win four more games than the Brewers in the final nine to get the No. 1 seed due to a tiebreaker disadvantage with Milwaukee. The Brewers won the season series with the Phillies, 4-2.

Philadelphia doesn't have much room left in the season to make up ground, so they must have felt good after seeing that the Brewers fell to the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-1, earlier in the evening. It gave the Phillies an opening.

The Phillies have two more games with the Diamondbacks, and the Brewers have two more games with the Cardinals. Theoretically, if the Phillies were to sweep and the Brewers were to get swept then the two teams would be tied for the top seed with six games to play. Of course, since the Brewers have the tiebreaker, Philadelphia must win at least one more game than Milwaukee wins down the stretch to claim that top seed.

There is another wrinkle that should fuel Philadelphia’s desire to get the No. 1 seed. The Brewers have the best record in baseball and no team in the American League has won 90 games yet. The likelihood is high that the NL team with the best record will have home-field advantage through the World Series, should they get that far.

Philadelphia Phillies Chase for No. 1 NL Seed

Raffy returns to the lineup with a 3 RBI night! pic.twitter.com/leBrL60WZe

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) September 20, 2025

Milwaukee Brewers: 94-60 (lead NL)

Philadelphia Phillies: 92-62 (2.0 games behind)

Philadelphia Phillies Games Remaining: 8

Philadelphia Phillies Remaining Schedule: Sept. 20-21, at Arizona; Sept. 23-25 vs. Miami; Sept. 26-28, vs. Minnesota.

Milwaukee Brewers Remaining Schedule (8 games): Sept. 20-21, at St. Louis; Sept. 22-24 at San Diego; Sept. 26-28, vs. Cincinnati.