On September 1 the Phillies led the Diamondbacks by six and a half games for the third National League wild card. On Sunday morning that lead was one game and Philadelphia had lost four straight.
They needed Game 162 to save the season. They got it, 7-3 over Tampa Bay.
Zack Wheeler Did What Aces Do
Wheeler went six innings, struck out five and gave up one run on a home run. That is the whole story of why Philadelphia is still playing. When the season came down to a single afternoon, the best pitcher on the roster took the ball and settled everything down.
Jesús Luzardo threw a scoreless inning in relief after being reinstated from the injured list, which matters more for October than it did for Sunday.
The Offense Finally Showed Up
Bryce Harper homered. Kyle Schwarber doubled in two. Edmundo Sosa went deep. Bryson Stott had three hits and Trea Turner added two more with a run scored.
That lineup had gone missing for most of September. It reappeared on the one day it absolutely had to, which is either evidence of veteran resolve or evidence that this team has been coasting on talent and waiting for urgency. Phillies fans have been arguing about which for three weeks.
Don Mattingly Survives
Saturday’s loss to Tampa Bay was ugly enough that the manager’s name was trending. Mattingly started Aaron Nola on two days of rest in a must-win spot and it fell apart immediately.
The gamble did not work. The season did not end. Those two things are both true, and in Philadelphia only the second one gets remembered if the Phillies go on a run.
Atlanta in a Best-of-Three
Philadelphia opens the wild card round Tuesday at 2 p.m. against the Braves, with Games 2 and 3 on Wednesday and Thursday if needed.
The Phillies are 10-4 all-time in the postseason against Atlanta and have never lost a playoff series to them, with wins in 1993, 2022 and 2023. That history is worth exactly nothing in a three-game set, and everyone in both clubhouses knows it.
A team that just spent a month collapsing now has to win two games in three days against a division rival. Philadelphia earned the chance. It did not earn any confidence.
The Collapse Almost Happened
Blowing a six-and-a-half game lead in four weeks would have gone down as one of the great September failures in recent baseball history. The Diamondbacks went 86-75 and got nothing for it, which is the cruelty of a one-team-in format.
Philadelphia finished 87-74. One game separated a playoff berth from a winter of recrimination and a front-office reckoning.
Can This Team Actually Do Damage
The rotation is the reason to believe. Wheeler at the front of a three-game series changes the math, and Luzardo coming off the injured list gives the bullpen an arm it did not have a week ago.
The lineup is the reason to worry. Harper, Schwarber and Turner all produced Sunday after going quiet for most of the month, and October does not offer time to find your swing.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.