Philadelphia Phillies No Closer to Knowing Wild Card Playoff Opponent

The Philadelphia Phillies may know after they play a doubleheader with the New York Mets on Saturday.

Even though the Philadelphia Phillies know their playoff seed, the baseball gods are making their final regular-season weekend a slog.

The torrential downpours and flooding in New York City — which at one point allowed a sea lion to easily escape the Central Park Zoo — postponed the Phillies’ series opener with the New York Mets at Citi Field. So, assuming things dry out they’ll play a doubleheader on Saturday and the finale on Sunday.

As for the Phillies’ Wild Card series opponent, well they don’t know just yet. There was a chance that they would find out it would be the Arizona Diamondbacks. All they had to do was beat the Houston Astros on Friday.

The Diamondbacks lost, 2-1. But there was a back-door way to accomplish it. Just get the Chicago Cubs and the Cincinnati Reds to lose.

The Cubs cooperated. The Reds did not. Technically, both can still catch the Diamondbacks in the playoff race, though Arizona has the tiebreaker over the Cubs. But, because Chicago and Cincinnati can still catch Arizona, the Diamondbacks’ magic number to clinch a berth remains at one.

Plus, the Miami Marlins are just 0.5 games behind the Diamondbacks for the second Wild Card berth. So there’s a chance the Phillies could end up with Miami and not Arizona.

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. 30

Friday’s results

Philadelphia vs. New York Mets, ppd, rain (doubleheader on Saturday)

Houston 2, Arizona 1

Milwaukee 4, Chicago Cubs 3 (10 innings)

Miami 4, Pittsburgh 3

Cincinnati 19, St. Louis 2

Standings

(Top three teams clinch Wild Card berths)

Philadelphia (89-70): +6.5 Games (No. 4 Seed; will play No. 5 seed)

Arizona (84-76): — +0.5 GB (Magic Number to clinch playoff berth: 1)

Miami (83-76): — (Magic Number to clinch playoff berth: 2)

Chicago Cubs (82-78): — 1.5 GB

Cincinnati (82-78): — 1.5 GB

What’s Left?

Philadelphia (2): Saturday-Sunday: at New York Mets (3)

Chicago Cubs (2): Saturday-Sunday: at Milwaukee (2)

Arizona (2): Saturday-Sunday: vs. Houston (2)

Cincinnati (2): Saturday-Sunday: at St. Louis (2)

Miami (2): Saturday-Sunday: at Pittsburgh (2)