Phillies and Brewers postseason bound

J.T. Realmuto (D. Benjamin Miller, Wikimedia Commons)

The Milwaukee Brewers and Philadelphia Phillies are the first two teams to qualify for the 2025 Major League Baseball postseason. The Brewers clinched a playoff spot on Saturday when the Texas Rangers beat the New York Mets 3-2, and the Phillies clinched a spot on Monday when they beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-5 in extra innings on Monday. Milwaukee guaranteed themselves a wildcard berth, while the Phillies won the National League East.

The Phillies and Dodgers series at Dodgers Stadium this week is filled with intrigue. Philadelphia came back from a 3-1 deficit on Monday, and got home runs from Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper and Weston Wilson. Meanwhile, J.T. Realmuto (pictured above with the catcher’s gear) had the game-winning RBI on a sacrifice fly to break a 5-5 deadlock in the top of the 10th inning.

Philadelphia has a commanding 12.5 game lead over the Mets at the moment, and cannot be caught. The Mets, meanwhile, lead the Arizona Diamondbacks by a game and a half for the final National League Wildcard Spot. The fact that we are talking about the Mets and Diamondbacks battling for a spot is downright mind-boggling. That is because the Diamondbacks traded Merrill Kelly to the Texas Rangers, Josh Naylor and Eugenio Suarez to the Seattle Mariners, and Shelby Miller to the Milwaukee Brewers at the trade deadline. However, in the last 10 games, the Diamondbacks have made up four games on the Mets. Arizona has won six of their last 10, while New York has lost eight of 10.

The Diamondbacks have momentum at the moment. They are winners of three straight, and clobbered the San Francisco Giants 8-1 on Monday. The Mets, meanwhile, will host the San Diego Padres the next three days. San Diego is in second place in the National League West, and only two games back of the Dodgers for the division lead.