Phillies Magic Number and NL Postseason Seed Thread

[zambonir]

Two things jumped out at me there:

Mets-Braves still have one three-game series left that will determine their head-to-head tiebreaker.

And:

The Brewers lost the tiebreaker to the Dodgers 3-4. If the Phillies win one more game against the Brewers this season and the Phillies, Brewers and Dodgers all win their respective divisions, but finish with the same record, the Phillies would be the No. 1 seed in the National League. The Dodgers would have the No. 2 seed.

[MichaelJackSchmidt]

[zambonir]

Kind of want to plan a trip to Queens, but which day?

[bkeich]

He would be an obvious choice since as Z pointed out they need to put him in the 40 this offseason anyway. Of course we need to make a slot, but at the end of the season that may be easy.

He hasn’t had a great season, but it would be nice to at least give him a few innings if we get to “just playing them out” time.

[bkeich]

Amazing how many catchers we have had with “6”

[BaseballCat]

Queens is too far for us, but we will be in DC on the 27th. Go Phils!

[zambonir]

I guess I could consider that but I'm thinking there will be a lot less to play for by then! And I've already got Cubs tix at home. Ideally they clinch the East between Thursday and Saturday at Citi, depending how well the two teams do in between now and then.

[EastFallowfield]

I like it when the magic number is less than half of the games left!

[BaseballCat]

A friend got the tickets cheap through work. I probably would not have gone if it was not the Phillies. Choose seats behind the Phils bullpen. Any game will be fun for this VA Phils fan!

[zambonir]

Fun night to start scoreboard watching - or actually watching, esp. if you have MLB.TV. Got Brewers-Dbacks on right now and Dodgers-Braves are on ESPN. When does the NFL start again?

[zambonir]

Brewers have blown leads of 8-5 and 10-8, with the tying 10th run in the 10th inning coming on a bases loaded HBP. AZ led this game 5-0 at one point too.

Brewers lose.

[owaistabish]

Four game lead going into the series tomorrow - some wiggle room lol

[zambonir]

Also at this moment the Braves are ahead of the Mets for last wild card. We lead the Mets by 9 and Braves by 8.5 for now.

[zambonir]

we lead the Braves by 9, seems safe to say. But Dodgers keeping pace. 2-0 Atlanta lead turned into a 2-2 tie and is now a 9-2 Dodgers lead.

[xogfog]

[EastFallowfield]

(feel like the 2024 guys need a little love in this thread too)

[zambonir]

I'm still not sure what I think about the NLDS picture. Obviously you have to get the first seed if you can (and home field in the WS on top of that). But facing Arizona or San Diego still scares me more than Milwaukee or the Braves to some extent (though the Braves pitching is plenty scary). I guess the good news is the West Coast teams will be just as jet-lagged from having to come to Philadelphia first. Phillies were 11-11 on the road out west this year (including Colorado), and that was with some uncharacteristic success (sweeping San Diego early; winning the series at Dodger Stadium) to go with some duds (Colorado, SF, Seattle, Arizona).

Ironically I think it also might be harder to win a five-game series as the home team (if you don't take a 2-0 lead). That was our formula to beat the Braves, and I don't think you want one of them to go five regardless (only one of them has, with the Yankees and Cleveland trading wins before the Yankees won Game 5 at home in 2022. Then they got swept by Houston).

[Philsmania]

What is the Postseason berth magic number? Playoffstatus.com says it's three but I hear they don't include tiebreakers. CBS Sports also says three.

[zambonir]

Officially it is five if you don't start to think about all the tiebreakers and who plays who. But yes, unofficially it is three because one of either the Braves and Mets are going to lose at least two games to the other. And they are the only two teams that could still catch the Phillies for a WC.

Playoff status is wins, not a traditional magic number. Though that is moot at this point.

Even if they win just one game in Milwaukee they may leave there with a postseason clinch, as well as the division for the taking Thursday or Friday at the latest.

[EastFallowfield]

Yes, there seems to be a new trend where they call something a magic number that means how many wins your team needs, not the old wins and losses by some other team combo.

If the Phils lose out they're 90-72. Braves and Mets each have are at 81-68, if they both go 10-3 they finish 91-71 and the Phils are in 3rd and probably out of the playoffs, even though you'd think if you heard the playoff magic number was 3 and those two teams both lost 3 you'd be in. And maybe they could go 9-4 and both have tiebreakers against the Phils.

Phils win 3 then they get a berth cause one or the other of Braves and Mets will have those guaranteed 2 or 3 losses.

Highly unlikely scenarios though