Phillies Discussion (9/21/2026)

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Here’s a new Phillies Discussion. 

We enter the final week of the season with the Phillies on the verge of clinching a wild card berth.  Also up for grabs is playoff seeding.  Currently, Chicago and San Diego are a game ahead of the Phillies.  In the event of a tie or  ties, Chicago holds head-to-head advantages over both the Phillies and San Diego.  The Phillies hold the head-to-head advantage over San Diego.  In the unlikely event of the Diamondbacks closing ground with the Phillies, Arizona would hold an advantage in the second tie breaker, division record.

Important 3-game series during the final week include:

  • September 22-24, 2026
    • Milwaukee at Philadelphia
    • Miami at Chicago Cubs
    • San Diego at Los Angeles
    • Arizona at Colorado
  • September 25-27. 2026
    • Tampa at Philadelphia
    • Chicago Cubs at Boston
    • Arizona at San Diego

The Phillies schedule is harder on paper since their opponents have the best records within their leagues.  However, there are those who speculate that their opponents will be resting players down the stretch.  Milwaukee is still playing for home field advantage through the NLCS.  Both teams will have time to rest during the wild card series so I find that hopeful but not likely.  Even if they do sit some players, the Phillies have long shown the ability to play down to the level of their competition.  I expect they will start the playoffs on the road, opponent as yet undetermined.

This should post automatically at 10:PM EST on September 21th.  Comments on the previous discussion should automatically close at the same time.

Important Dates

  • December 1, 2026 (11:59 p.m. ET): MLB Collective Bargaining Agreement expires.

 

 

10 thoughts on “Phillies Discussion (9/21/2026)”

  2. Let the cubs play the Padres and take our chances with the Braves. 3 game series I will take it do or die. Sale may be good one but Phils will have a couple good starters as well. Padres have dodgers and diamondbacks but how motivated will the Dodgers be.

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  3. It starts tonight, Wheeler vs May. Phillies need to win this game to set a tone for the series. If Wheeler gets bombed, it’s not a good omen.

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  5. Is it weird that I am happy for Pete Alonso? I generally hate Mets players but I always liked him.

    I thought if Middleton was serious he would have allowed DD to sign he and Schwarber.

    And given that BH was somehow moved to play RF when they traded Arraez I have to assume he would have done so for Alonso a RHB capable of 40 HRs to hit behind him.

    Which leads me to the luck the Padres found in Ty France. Every year DD looks for a reclamation project and they just kind of flame out. The Padres landed France on a minor league deal and he somehow managed to hit 301 with 21 HRS over 146 OPS+.

    A little luck goes a long way in the business

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    1. Speaking of luck……Junior Caminero received a signing bonus of $87,500 when he originally signed with Cleveland as an international free agent in July 2019…….and the Rays acquired Junior Caminero from the Cleveland Guardians Nov, 2021, in exchange for right-handed pitcher Tobias Myers. Rays als sent Junior to Australia winter ball at 18-years old…..and he raked there. Now there is some luck.

      https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=camine000jun

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      1. Yeah, probably some combination of luck and good scouting – like the Cristopher Sanchez acquisition. Sure we got lucky, but Klentak and his team did a great job of sniffing out that opportunity and I was totally wrong about this trade – you were right, Matt Klentak!!

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    2. I think we should hand out an annual award that goes to the Phillies’ annual “buy low” early 30s position player who the team thinks will, but in fact never does, have a bounce back year. I would call it the “Jenkins Award”, in honor of Geoff Jenkins, who was signed in 2008 to play the outfield as a bounce back candidate and who was a -0.3 WAR player in his only year as a Phillie and ultimately lost his spot to Jayson Werth. This year, the Jenkins award goes to Adolis Garcia. As unfortunate as his injury was, it prompted the team to acquire/promote Derek Hill and Bryan De La Cruz, each of whom make around major league minimum and each of whom have been much better than Garcia.

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  6. Congratulations to the Reading Fightin Phils who are Eastern League champions. I’m expecting the following players to start the season at Lehigh:

    The locks: Heredia, DeMartini, Miller, Rincon

    Very Likely: Graves, Jimenez, Nori, Ware, Ricketts

    50-50: Wood, Bowker, Pan, Escobar, McGowan

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