 |
| J.T. Realmuto's struggles at the plate continued again on Friday. | CREDIT: Jon Thomson |
PHILADELPHIA — The Phillies have spent six months trying to reach October. Now, with two games left, their season can be reduced to three things they cannot fully control: the Diamondbacks, the weather and whether Zack Wheeler has to pitch Sunday.
That is what happens when an offense disappears at the worst possible time.
Friday’s 2-0 loss to Tampa Bay was Philadelphia’s third straight defeat and perhaps the clearest example yet of the problem. Cristopher Sánchez struck out 10 over seven innings and allowed two runs. It should have been enough to keep the Phillies in a game they desperately needed.
Instead, it became another exercise in waiting for something that never came.
The Phillies finished with four hits, all singles. They went 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position. Their best chance came in the sixth, when Trea Turner and Bryce Harper opened the inning with consecutive singles. Two runners. Nobody out. The tying run at the plate.
They did not score.
Alec Bohm grounded out. Bryson Stott lined out. Bryan De La Cruz lined out.
In a season now hanging on individual innings, that one felt enormous.
Over their last seven games, the Phillies are hitting .194/.286/.291, a .577 OPS. They have hit three home runs and scored 21 runs while going 2-5.
And somehow even that undersells how bad it has become.
They have scored one run, one run and zero runs in their last three games. They are 1-for-19 with runners in scoring position over that span. They have scored three runs or fewer in nine of their last 12 games.
This is no longer a cold stretch that can be explained away by a few hard-hit balls finding gloves. This is an offense in disaster territory at precisely the moment when the Phillies needed one ordinary weekend of competent hitting to remove every other variable from the equation.
Instead, they have invited all of them in.
Arizona entered Friday night still alive because the Phillies have been unable to finish the job themselves. If the Diamondbacks lose in San Diego, Philadelphia’s magic number drops to one. One Phillies win or one Arizona loss over the final two days would then put the Phillies in the postseason.
If Arizona wins Friday, the race tightens to one game with two remaining.
Then Saturday becomes more complicated.
A Phillies win and an Arizona loss would clinch the berth. A Phillies win and an Arizona win would push it to Sunday. So would a Phillies loss and an Arizona loss.
But a Phillies loss combined with another Diamondbacks win would leave the teams tied entering Game 162.
And tied is not enough for Philadelphia.
The clubs split their six meetings this season, sending the tiebreaker to intradivision record, where Arizona holds the advantage. There is no Game 163. If they enter Sunday tied, the Phillies would need to win and have Arizona lose.
That is how a team that once appeared headed comfortably toward October ends up watching a scoreboard in San Diego.
Then there is Wheeler.
The Phillies want him for Game 1 of the Wild Card Series on Tuesday. But MLB.com reported Friday that if Philadelphia cannot clinch Saturday and Arizona keeps winning, Wheeler will start Sunday’s regular-season finale.
In other words, the Phillies’ inability to score could force them to spend their best postseason weapon merely to qualify for the postseason.
That might be the most damaging consequence of all.
Luis Arraez’s sprained left ankle has made the offense thinner at exactly the wrong time. An MRI confirmed the injury Friday, and Don Mattingly said he would be “a little surprised” if Arraez could play in the field this weekend.
And because baseball apparently has decided this race needs one more variable, there is the weather.
The National Weather Service is forecasting rain Saturday in Philadelphia with north winds of 15 to 20 mph and gusts as high as 40 mph. Sunday carries another significant rain threat. As of Friday night, no Phillies schedule change had been announced.
So now the postseason race has become something almost absurdly fragile.
The Phillies need runs. They may need San Diego to beat Arizona. They may need a rain window. And they may need Wheeler on Sunday, which would immediately complicate Tuesday.
None of that was supposed to matter this much.
The Phillies had chances to make it irrelevant.
They still do.
But with two games left, every empty inning is no longer just an offensive failure.
It is another piece of control slipping away.
More Phillies Coverage
Loading Phillies schedule...
Loading NL East standings...
