The Phillies reached the official midpoint of their season after Friday night’s 2-1 loss to Washington. They are 43-38, on pace for 86 wins, one fewer than last season when they claimed the National League’s final wild-card spot with an 87-75 record.
The Phils went into Saturday’s game against the Nats 2½ games behind the Giants for the final wild-card berth. Entering play Saturday, the NL wild-card standings looked like this:
Marlins: 48-35
Dodgers: 46-35
Giants: 46-36
Phillies: 43-38
Brewers: 43-39
The next closest team is three games behind the Brewers.
The Phillies went 18-8 in June. It’s a good thing they did because the two teams ahead of them in the NL East and the team directly in front of them in the wild-card race played equal or better baseball.
The Braves went 21-4 in the month. The Marlins won 19-8. The Giants matched the Phils at 18-8.
“It’s just natural to look at where you’re at (in the standings), but obviously, the other teams in our division are having success, Miami and Atlanta,” Kyle Schwarber said Friday night. “The biggest thing is there’s still a lot of games to be played. We still have a really consistent mindset when we go out there, not feeling like we’re sprinting too early.”
The Phillies would be buried right now if they played .500 baseball in June. Had they gone 13-3 as opposed to 18-8, they’d be 7½ games out of the last wild-card spot.
Just look at the Mets. They’re 10 games behind the Giants and would need to leapfrog six teams to make the playoffs. In other words, a team with a payroll approaching $380 million will need a miracle.
“I feel good about the month of June,” Phils manager Rob Thomson said. “We’ve got to keep it going. If you look at the talent on this roster, it’s better than an 86-win club, in my mind. We’ve just got to keep playing, preparing and competing, and the talent will rose.”
The Phillies were carried by their pitching in June. They ranked first in the majors in ERA (3.05), second in WHIP (1.10) and third in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.9 to 1).
Taijuan Walker and Ranger Suarez deserve as much credit as anyone on the roster for their work the last four weeks. Suarez had a 1.08 ERA. Walker had a 1.50 ERA. The Phillies went 9-2 in their starts.
The middle of the rotation was a weakness the first two months, then the Phils’ biggest strength in June.
“The pitching has been fantastic,” Schwarber said. “You look at our bullpen and say it’s definitely a top bullpen in the league. You look at the way our starters are going out there and going deep into ballgames, into the sixth or seventh inning, there’s not many five-and-dives. They’re keeping us in the game.
“We’re definitely playing a better brand of baseball than we were early on, that’s the important thing. We’ve put ourselves in a better position than where we were a month ago. We’re going to continue to go out and grind , try to pile up Ws and put ourselves in a good position that whenever we reach the 162nd game of the year and it’s over, hopefully we’re going to be moving on.”