The Phillies Have A Huge Week Coming Up
It wasn’t a great week for the Philadelphia Phillies these past 7 days as they lost series to the Padres and Dodgers, neither seeing any particularly strong offense from the Phils. This team clearly has some issues playing at home, which is a concern for a group with playoff aspirations, but the good news is they are off on a road trip this week, and one that gives them a huge opportunity. Following a momentum building 10th inning walk off win over the Dodgers yesterday, the Phillies now head to Atlanta for 4 games, then New York for 3 more. 7 divisional games in a week? That’s about as important as stretches get in late May, and the Phillies need a strong performance to keep themselves in the mix in the division.
Now, you can’t lose a division in May. You also can’t win a division in May. The Phillies will not come out of this week with a death sentence on their season, but they can hugely help their standing by getting hot over the next 7 games. Let’s just take a quick peek at the current NL East Standings:
- New York Mets, 28-15, 0.0 GB
- Philadelphia Phillies, 19-22, 8.0 GB
- Atlanta Braves, 19-22, 8.0 GB
- Miami Marlins, 18-22, 8.5 GB
- Washington Nationals, 14-22, 13.5 GB
The Mets are already pulling away in the division, and with the Phillies not facing them again after this week until August, it’ll be even harder to catch New York if the Phils don’t play them well in this upcoming weekend series. Taking 2 or 3 from the Mets is imperative to keep them within some striking distance of the rest of the pack in the NL East. The 4 games in Atlanta are not exactly unimportant either. With the Phillies and Braves tied for 2nd in the division, (I put the Phillies in 2nd in the standings because this is my article so suck it Braves fans) Atlanta can jump the Phils and put them as low as 4th place in the East if they win that series down at Truist Park. That being said, though, the Phillies can do the same thing if they take 3 or 4 from Atlanta. It’s a pivotal stretch for the NL East contenders, (sorry Marlins and Nationals, not you) and the Phils are in the thick of it.
