Early look at the Philadelphia Phillies potential postseason roster

The Phillies have a rubber match in Milwaukee tonight after clinching the regular season tiebreaker against the Brewers  in last night’s 5-1 victory. 

Zack Wheeler dazzled on the mound in Milwaukee last night, throwing seven strong innings while allowing just four hits and one earned run, striking out six to improve to 16-6 on the season.

At the plate, Nick Castellanos got the Phillies on the board first with a solo home run in the top of the second. With the game tied 1-1 in the top of the sixth, Bryce Harper stepped up to the pate and a crushed a go-ahead 2-run home run to give the Phillies the lead en route to a 5-1 victory.

The Phillies beat the Brewers and now hold the the regular season tiebreaker over Milwaukee with 11 games remaining. The magic number to clinch the National League East currently sits at four games.

The Phillies are now 91-60 on the season. They are 6-4 over their last 10 games and lead the New York Mets by eight games and Atlanta Braves by 10 games in the NL East standings.

In the National League the Phillies hold the best record with a one game advantage over the Los Angeles Dodgers. They lead the Dodgers by two games the third place New York Yankees by three games and the Milwaukee Brewers by four games for the best record in all of Major League Baseball.

Phillies / MLB Postseason Updates >>

The Phillies are in a dominant position in the NL East, holding an 8-game lead over the Mets. Their playoff odds stand at 100%, with a 99.9% chance of winning the division, according to FanGraphs.

Tiebreaker Status:

• Win tiebreakers against: Brewers, Dodgers, Padres
• Lose tiebreakers against: D-backs, Braves
• TBD: Mets (6-3, 4 games remaining)

Philadelphia has already secured crucial tiebreakers over the Dodgers and Brewers, which could come into play for playoff seeding. 

The Phillies can punch their ticket to the postseason as early as Wednesday with a win over the Brewers and a Mets loss to the Nationals. 

Who knows how things will shake out tonight, but one thing is for sure, the Philadelphia Phillies are heading to the postseason for the third straight season and it’s about time we start looking at the remaining spots on the roster that are still up for grabs. 

The past two years, the Phillies went with 13 pitchers in the NLDS and I highly doubt that we’ll see anything different this postseason. 

RHP (seven): Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Taijuan Walker, Jeff Hoffman, Orion Kerkering, Carlos Estévez, José Ruiz

LHP (five): Cristopher Sánchez, Ranger Suárez, José Alvarado, Tanner Banks, Matt Strahm

One spot open to follow the 13 pitcher strategy…

The options for that final spot include lefty Kolby Allard and right-handers Max Lazar, Tyler Gilbert, or Spencer Turnbull, who’s been sidelined since late June with a shoulder injury.

Side Note: Turnbull threw 64 pitches in a rehab outing on Tuesday, but his return to the majors is still a work in progress. [MLB]

Obviously, the options to join the postseason roster aren’t great outside of the 12 pitchers listed above so all of the sudden, maybe the Phillies will add another bat off the bench? That seems likely given how often Rob Thomson has called upon his bench this season.

On Monday night in Milwaukee, Topper burned Buddy Kennedy as a pinch-hitter for Cal Stevenson. That forced the Brew Crew to bring in a reliever. Topper then pinch-hit Kody Clemens for Buddy to get the advantage.

Operating on 14 position players, the Phillies will look towards Kody Clemens, Cal Stevenson, Weston Wilson, and Buddy Kennedy. It’s safe to rule Buddy Kennedy out of the equation already. He was just optioned to Triple A Lehigh Valley with Edmundo Sosa returning from the Injured List.

That leaves the Phillies with Clemens, Stevenson, and Wilson as they await their postseason positioning to determine who their opponent will be in the NLDS.

I think you have to go Clemens and Wilson, right?

Kody Clemens: 102 AB | 23 H | 4 HR | 17 RBI | .225 BA | .706 OPS

Weston Wilson: 75 AB | 3 HR | 8 RBI | 2 SB | .293 BA | .848 OPS

Cal Stevenson: 21 AB | 0 HR | 5 RBI | .286 BA | .804 OPS

Clemens has been clutch and Wilson definitely had some moments. Cal Stevenson isn’t a bad option either given his ability to play all over the outfield but defensively, that’s not really what’s needed with Brandon Marsh, Johan Rojas, and Nick Castellanos being the main focus.

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