After last weeks homestand hat, the Philadelphia Phillies have released yet another special edition hat that you can buy in their New Era store at the stadium. This new hat, is pretty terrible, just like all of the other hats that New Era has released this year. We are getting to a point where New Era has to be trolling us. The Phillies have 13 games left to snap a near decade long playoff drought and continue to fall short in the marketing department when it comes to hyping up a team that is been anything but consistent this year.

I honestly just don’t know who the Phillies and New Era are even marketing to anymore. Yes, I know there are Disney fans that are adults. I go to Disney World once a year and always have a great time. However, at the end of September, who is going to ball game and walking out with one of these hats? Someone has to be forcing the Phillies hand with these Disney x New Era hats. I hope that everyone in the Phillies organization cringes when they have to release one of these abominations. The New Era Store itself is very cool. Someone needs to tell them that they don’t need Walt Disney in their pockets in order to make money and release good products.

As for the Phillies this week, they will face the Baltimore Orioles and the Pittsburgh Pirates, two of Major League Baseball’s worst teams, at Citizens Bank Park before heading to Atlanta for what is shaping up to be a season-defining series against the National League East leading Braves.

They are two games behind the Atlanta Braves (3 in the loss column), and 3.5 games out of the second Wild Card spot, tied with the Padres and a half game behind the Reds, chasing the Cardinals. Despite losing yesterday, the Phillies finished their season series against the Braves with a 10-9 record. Against the National League as a whole, the Fightins are 40-30, which is the exact same record as the Braves. 

Over the final 13 games of the season, the Phillies will send Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, and Ranger Suarez to the mound eight times. Suarez will start tonight against Orioles pitcher John Means, with a bullpen game likely on Tuesday before Zack Wheeler takes the mound on Wednesday. The Braves will head to the desert to open up a four game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks tonight. 

Tonights Starting Lineup:

Roster Moves: