Phillies Give Away Chance to Stay with Brewers for Top NL Playoff Seed

The Philadelphia Phillies lost a chance to hold onto ground in the race for the top playoff seed in the National League.

Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Kyle Schwarber (12) celebrates after scoring a run against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the first inning at Chase Field. | Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images

The Philadelphia Phillies were hoping for a second straight win over the Arizona Diamondbacks in a quest to claim the top playoff seed in the National League.

The Phillies (92-63) lost to the Diamondbacks, 4-3, on Saturday. Philadelphia held the lead early, thanks to an RBI double by Kyle Schwarber and a J.T Realmuto RBI sacrifice fly in the first inning. Philly fell into a tie but broke it in the fourth inning with an Alec Bohm solo home run. But that was the end of the scoring for the Phillies, who gave up the lead in the sixth inning.

Philadelphia needed that win, not to win the division or to desperately hang onto the No. 2 playoff seed, but to remain in the running for the No. 1 playoff seed in the National League playoffs.

Phillies Lose Ground for No. 1 Seed

The sweet sweet sound of a Bohm Run pic.twitter.com/UBYJqm7n41

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) September 21, 2025

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

Philadelphia is running out of room to make up ground, so they probably didn’t feel great after seeing that Milwaukee beat St. Loius, 3-2, earlier in the evening. Philadelphia knew it had to win to keep pace. With the Milwaukee win and the Philadelphia loss, the Brewers are back ahead by three games for the top seed.

The Phillies have one more game with the Diamondbacks, and the Brewers have one more game with the Cardinals. Philly needs a win on Sunday, combined with a Brewers loss, to be down two games going into the final week of the season.

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

And we're off! pic.twitter.com/ioitPicXKv

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) September 21, 2025

Milwaukee Brewers: 95-60 (lead NL)

Philadelphia Phillies: 92-63 (3.0 games behind)

Philadelphia Phillies Games Remaining: 7

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

Milwaukee Brewers Remaining Schedule (7 games): Sept. 21, at St. Louis; Sept. 22-24 at San Diego; Sept. 26-28, vs. Cincinnati.