Philadelphia Phillies Help Selves to Trim Wild Card Magic Number

With just 15 games remaining, the Philadelphia Phillies are getting closer to making the top Wild Card berth theirs.

The Philadelphia Phillies picked up steam toward clinching the top Wild Card berth in the National League on Friday.

The Phillies (80-67) defeated the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-4, in the first game of a three-game series. With that, the Phillies trimmed their magic number by one game to clinch the first Wild Card berth. That comes with a best-of-three home series.

While the Phillies were winning, the Chicago Cubs were losing, as they fell to Arizona, 6-4. That was good news for Philadelphia because it boosted their lead over the Cubs to 2.5 games for that first berth. The Cubs are running second in the Wild Card race.

The race underneath the pair tightened up, as Arizona and Cincinnati are tied for the third berth and Miami and San Francisco are within a game of the final berth.

Below is an update on the race, with the current standings, magic numbers to clinch a Wild Card berth and the remaining schedules for the teams that are still in the race.

The NL Wild Card Race as of Sept. 16

Friday’s Results

Philadelphia 5, St. Louis 4

Arizona 6, Chicago Cubs 4

Cincinnati 5, New York Mets 3

Miami 9, Atlanta 3

Colorado 3, San Francisco 2

(Top three teams clinch Wild Card berths)

Philadelphia (80-67): +4.0 Games (Magic Number to clinch: 11)

Chicago Cubs (78-70): +1.5 Games (Magic Number to clinch: 13)

Arizona (77-72): — (Magic Number to clinch: 14)

Cincinnati (77-72): — (Magic Number to clinch: 14)

Miami (76-72): — 0.5 GB

San Francisco (75-72): — 1.0 GB

What’s Left?

Philadelphia (15): Saturday-Sunday: at St. Louis (2); Sept. 18-20: at Atlanta (3); Sept. 21-24: vs. New York Mets (4); Sept. 26-28: vs. Pittsburgh (3); Sept. 29-Oct. 1: at New York Mets (3)

Chicago Cubs (14): Saturday-Sunday: at Arizona (2); Sept. 19-21: vs. Pittsburgh (3); Sept. 22-24: vs. Colorado (3); Sept. 26-28: at Atlanta (3); Sept. 29-Oct. 1: at Milwaukee (3)

Arizona (13): Saturday-Sunday: vs. Chicago Cubs (2); Sept. 19-20: vs. San Francisco (2); Sept. 22-24: at New York Yankees (3); Sept. 25-27: at Chicago White Sox (3); Sept. 29-Oct. 1: vs. Houston (3)

Cincinnati (13): Saturday-Sunday: at New York Mets (2); Sept. 18-20: vs. Minnesota (3); Sept. 22-24: vs. Pittsburgh (3); Sept. 26-27: at Cleveland (2); Sept. 29-Oct. 1: at St. Louis (3)

Miami (14): Saturday-Sunday: vs. Atlanta (2); Sept. 18-20: vs. New York Mets (3); Sept. 22-24: vs. Milwaukee (3); Sept. 26-28: at New York Mets (3); Sept. 29-Oct. 1: at Pittsburgh (3)

San Francisco (14): Saturday-Sunday: at Colorado (3); Sept. 19-20: at Arizona (2); Sept. 21-24: at Los Angeles Dodgers (4); Sept. 25-27: vs. San Diego (3); Sept. 29-Oct. 1: vs. Los Angeles Dodgers (3)