Three wins in Minnesota changed the mood.
Three wins against Miami could start changing the standings.
That is the opportunity sitting in front of the Phillies as they return to Citizens Bank Park on Monday night for a three-game series against the Marlins — the beginning of a six-game homestand that suddenly feels considerably more important than an ordinary week in August.
The Phillies arrive home at 67-58 after sweeping the Twins, tied with San Diego in the National League Wild Card race. Arizona is one game behind both clubs. Miami is only three games back. St. Louis, which comes to Philadelphia immediately after the Marlins, is 3½ games behind.
So, yes, this is a homestand.
It is also an opportunity to thin the crowd.
The Phillies spent the weekend in Minnesota creating the kind of momentum that has too often disappeared during this uneven season. They won the Field of Dreams game, followed with a 9-1 rout Saturday and then erased a 5-0 deficit Sunday to complete the sweep with a 7-5 victory. Alec Bohm's three-run homer and game-tying single helped fuel the comeback before Bryan De La Cruz delivered the go-ahead two-run single in the eighth.
That final win may have mattered most.
Good teams win when everything works. Dangerous teams occasionally win when almost nothing does.
Andrew Painter struggled early. The Phillies fell five runs behind. And instead of accepting a getaway-day loss and celebrating a successful trip, they kept pushing until Miami suddenly arrived in Philadelphia staring at a team riding its first three-game winning streak in weeks.
Now comes the harder part.
Can they sustain it?
Because the Marlins aren't arriving as an August pushover.
Miami is 64-61, has won six of eight and took two of three in Cincinnati over the weekend. The Marlins scored seven runs over the final two innings Sunday to turn a scoreless game into a 7-1 victory. They have also played the Phillies virtually even this season: the teams have split their first 10 meetings, with Philadelphia holding only a 46-42 advantage in runs.
In other words, this isn't a series in which the Phillies can simply assume the standings will take care of themselves.
They need to create separation themselves.
And Monday gives them about as favorable a place to start as imaginable.
Cristopher Sánchez takes the ball against Janson Junk. Sánchez enters at 15-4 with a 2.54 ERA and 181 strikeouts. He is 10-1 with a 1.41 ERA at Citizens Bank Park this season and 3-0 with a microscopic 0.50 ERA in five career starts against Miami. Junk is 6-7 with a 4.41 ERA, though he has pitched better recently, going 4-2 with a 3.31 ERA over his past seven starts.
Then comes Zack Wheeler on Tuesday, carrying a 10-4 record and 2.89 ERA into his start. Wednesday brings the trickier matchup: Aaron Nola, 4-9 with a 5.33 ERA, against Sandy Alcantara, who is 13-7 with a 3.43 ERA and just extended his scoreless streak to 25 innings before Cincinnati finally scored against him Friday.
It creates a pretty simple formula.
Win behind Sánchez. Win behind Wheeler. Then take your chances against Alcantara.
A series victory should be the minimum objective.
A sweep could dramatically alter Miami's position in the race.
And the Phillies need to recognize opportunities like this because their schedule is about to become considerably less forgiving. They have 37 games remaining, with 25 against teams currently above .500. Beginning Aug. 31, they face Arizona, Atlanta and Houston in 13 consecutive games against postseason contenders. Philadelphia also still has series remaining with Milwaukee and Tampa Bay.
That makes these six games against Miami and St. Louis particularly valuable.
The Phillies cannot control what San Diego does against the Mets this week. They cannot control Arizona's series in Boston. They can control whether Miami remains three games behind them Thursday morning or leaves Philadelphia wondering if its Wild Card chase is beginning to disappear.
There is another subtle advantage here, too.
Philadelphia already owns the tiebreaker over San Diego after sweeping the six-game season series. Arizona remains more complicated because the Diamondbacks lead that season series 2-1, with three games still to come in Phoenix.
So every bit of breathing room matters.
For months, the Phillies have lived in the strange middle ground between contender and disappointment — talented enough to scare anyone, inconsistent enough to make nothing feel secure.
Minnesota was encouraging.
But August doesn't reward encouragement.
It rewards accumulation.
Stack series wins. Build distance. Make the teams behind you run out of schedule before you run out of margin.
The Phillies finally generated some momentum in Minnesota.
Now comes the chance to turn it into something far more valuable.
Separation.
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