September baseball is always enjoyable, as the games are more intense and played with passion, but more importantly lead to playoff baseball and the World Series. The NL East is a division with no definitive winner but has the Mets, Braves, and Phillies within the contention of clinching. The Braves currently lead the NL East 3.0 games ahead of the Phillies and 5.5 games ahead of the Mets. All teams here have been fairly inconsistent especially in the month of September, with the Braves having a 5-5 record in their last 10, Phillies 4-6 in their last 10, and Mets being 3-7.
When talking about the Phillies and their 21% chance to clinch the playoff spot, it is important to establish the team as a whole. Bryce Harper, the outfielder making a run for the NL MVP and playing super hot baseball in the month of September, has been seeing the ball well, batting a .309 AVG. Other players stepping up and playing great baseball like Odubel Herrera, Freddy Galvis (who has been hot lately), and Jean Segura are more than likely to help. The real problem is the pitching, more specifically, the bullpen. Surely the starting rotation has been fairly decent with the sensational Zach Wheeler and Ranger Saurez, both of which have shown no signs of slowing down, however, the bullpen has led to most of their losses and not being able to minimize the runs given up.
Fortunately, the Phillies do not have a hard schedule as they are due to face both the Braves, Mets, Pirates, Orioles, and Marlins. The Braves also do have the hardest schedule out of the NL East as they are set to face the Giants and Padres in the upcoming weeks. The team has the better bullpen and ERA with 12th in the MLB compared to the Phillies in 20th place. Surely the odds are against the Phillies, but with a feasible schedule, good hitting, and a bullpen that needs to step up more than ever, their odds may not seem that far-fetched.
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