Philadelphia Phillies Will Host Miami Marlins in NL Wild Card Series

The Philadelphia Phillies will host the Miami Marlins in the National League Wild Card Series, beginning Tuesday at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.

Jack Vita | Oct 1, 2023

Philadelphia Phillies Will Host Miami Marlins in NL Wild Card Series /

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Philadelphia Phillies

The Philadelphia Phillies will meet a familiar face in the National League Wild Card Series, beginning Tuesday at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

With their 3-0 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates Sunday, the Miami Marlins (84-77) jumped in front of the Arizona Diamondbacks (84-78) in the National League Wild Card standings, becoming the no. 5 seed in the National League Playoffs. They will travel to Philadelphia this week, for the seventh series of 2023 between the two division rivals.

Miami caused problems for the Phillies in 2023, as Philadelphia dropped seven of the 13 meetings between the two clubs.

The winner of the best-of-three series will play the National League-best Atlanta Braves in the National League Division Series, beginning Saturday. All three of the NL Wild Card Series games will be played in Philadelphia, with the series opener set for Tuesday. Game 2 will be played on Wednesday, and if necessary, a Game 3 will be played Thursday.

Major League Baseball introduced the new, 12-team playoff format last season, in which the Phillies found tremendous success. The club swept the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium in the Wild Card Series, before upsetting the Braves in the NLDS. Philadelphia then stormed through the San Diego Padres, winning the NLCS in five games, en route to their first World Series trip since 2009.

The Phillies won their first six home games of the 2022 MLB postseason, before dropping Game 5 and Game 6 of the World Series to the Houston Astros. The Marlins will have their work cut out for them, as the Phillies are a tough team to beat in their own ballpark, come October.

With the Phillies hosting the Marlins, the Diamondbacks will travel to Milwaukee to play the Brewers in the NL Wild Card Series. The winner of that series will play the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLDS.

The Phillies have yet to release their playoff roster and probable starters for the series, but it seems to be a safe bet that Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola will start the series' first two games.

Published Oct 1, 2023

JACK VITA

Jack Vita is a writer and contributor to Sports Illustrated's Inside the Phillies, and host of the Jack Vita Show, a popular sports podcast available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and wherever podcasts are found. Jack is a 2017 graduate of Valparaiso University, in northwest Indiana. Since completing his degree, Jack has created his own independent sports media outlet (JackVita.com) and podcast (the Jack Vita Show). He has featured prominent guests from the worlds of sports and entertainment including Brian Urlacher, Scot Pollard, Bob Nightengale, Dan O'Dowd, and Survivor icons Stephenie LaGrossa Kendrick, Cirie Fields, Danni Boatwright and "the Dragon Slayer", Coach Benjamin Wade. While studying at Valparaiso, Jack was the school newspaper's beat writer for the Valpo Crusaders men's basketball team, which won three straight Horizon League championships from 2015-2017. Traveling to cover the team, Jack had a front row seat to one of the nation's best mid-major teams, headlined by future NBA Draft pick Alec Peters and coached by NCAA Tournament hero Bryce Drew. Jack hosted a weekly sports radio show and provided play-by-play and color commentary services for ESPN 3 and the university's student radio station, WVUR-FM, 95.1 The Source, covering Valparaiso men's soccer, women's basketball, softball and volleyball. Jack also covered these sports, in addition to men's and women's tennis, baseball and women's soccer for the school newspaper, The Torch. While he was in college, Jack interned for and co-hosted Jewell On Sports, a sports radio program on AM 1050 WLIP in Kenosha, Wisconsin. There, he interviewed various pro athletes such as Ahman Green, Javon Walker and Javier Arenas, in addition to talking sports with the late, great Brad Jewell. Jack also interned for 22nd Century Media, a now defunct newspaper corporation that provided news to the North Shore of Chicago. With 22nd Century Media, Jack wrote post-game recaps, feature stories about local athletes, reviews of local restaurants and compiled the newspaper's "Pet of the Week" and "Athlete of the Week" sections, while providing copy-editing services. Before attending Valparaiso, Jack enrolled at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where he studied for two years before transferring. He is a high school graduate of New Trier Township High School in Winnetka, Illinois. You can follow Jack on Twitter @JackVitaShow, subscribe to his podcast, the Jack Vita Show, wherever podcasts are found, and reach him via email at jack@jackvita.com.