Does anyone really wish to win the NL Wild Card?

The MLB postseason begins in simply over a month. In the National League, 4 of the six spots have all however been secured. The Dodgers will simply win the NL West, the Cardinals will win the NL Central, and the Mets and Braves will battle it out for the NL East title in the end pushing considered one of them into the NL’s four-seed. That leaves the 5 and six-seeds up for grabs. Two spots and three groups vying for a playoff berth: The San Diego Padres, Milwaukee Brewers, and Philadelphia Phillies.

Sure, groups just like the San Francisco Giants and Arizona Diamondbacks are nonetheless technically within the race, however let’s be actual, no one expects them to make a run on the postseason. COULD it occur? Sure. Then once more, my ex-girlfriend might resolve to take me again. I discover neither of those situations very seemingly.

Barring some cosmic interference from the powers that be, the ultimate two NL Wild Card slots shall be given to some mixture of the Phillies, Brewers, and Padres. The Brewers are in search of their fifth consecutive postseason berth. The Phillies haven’t reached the playoffs since 2011, and the Padres haven’t reached the playoffs in a standard, non-COVID-shortened season since 2006. You’d suppose every of those groups can be dying for a chance to compete for a World Series, however primarily based on the previous couple of days, every crew appears very happy to let the opposite two take their place.

Over the weekend, the Padres have been on the highway for a three-game set with the Dodgers. The Padres misplaced that sequence. There’s no disgrace in dropping two of three to Los Angeles on the highway. No disgrace in any respect. Where the disgrace does begin to set in is their offense although. Over their final three video games (two @ LAD, one vs. ARI), the Padres have scored a complete of 5 runs.

I perceive having hassle scoring towards six innings of Julio Urías adopted by Blake Treinen, however there’s no excuse for recording solely three earned runs throughout 6.1 innings towards the likes of Heath Hembree, Phil Bickford, Chris Martin, Craig Kimbrel, and Ryan Pepiot. They stranded 11 runners in that recreation! The Padres led off the fourth with a pair of walks. How did the inning finish? Strikeout, strikeout, pop fly. I do know it was the underside of the Padres’ lineup, however you couldn’t even transfer them over. These are must-win video games at this level within the season, and no one appears able to doing any injury exterior of Machado and Soto!

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Fortunately, the Padres have been rid of the Dodgers following that recreation. Their first recreation of their dwelling sequence towards Arizona featured Ryne Nelson on the mound for the D-Backs. This was his first-ever Major League begin. He pitched seven shutout innings, permitting solely 4 hits. This man had a 5.43 ERA in Triple-A this yr to go together with a 5.51 FIP and declining strikeout charges every of the previous three seasons within the minors. His fastball sits at round 95 mph — nothing overpowering. The Padres couldn’t contact him. Sure, Nelson was permitting a couple of too many fly balls for consolation, however he was lacking barrels and forcing largely weak-to-medium contact. No hurt, no foul. I do know dealing with a brand new pitcher may be powerful since there isn’t a lot of a scouting report back to go off of, however this man wasn’t imagined to dominate in his first profession begin as a lot as he did, particularly towards an offense that’s imagined to be as harmful as San Diego’s.

The Phillies haven’t been a lot better. They simply wrapped up a sequence with San Francisco. The Giants had misplaced seven in a row and 11 of 13 heading into that sequence with Philadelphia. Did the Phillies take benefit? No. They surrendered 13 runs to the Giants — tied for the second-most runs the Giants have scored all yr. This Giants crew had been hanging on by a thread all season and at last began to see their playoff hopes fade away, however the Phillies simply needed to give them a motive to stay round, huh? San Francisco had swept simply two opponents in a three-game set or longer because the begin of June. Just two!

The Phillies might have an edge over the Brewers within the standings proper now, however now could be no time to lose video games to the lowly Giants! The Giants gave catcher Andrew Knapp, who at present has an OPS of .393 in 2021, seven plate appearances on this sequence. Knapp reached base or drove in a run, in 4 of them. That’s arguably the most popular streak of the complete season for Knapp! You can’t let guys like that beat you.

Then, there are the Brewers, who’ve really gained two of their final three video games. That’s nice! You know what isn’t nice although? Dropping three of 4 to Arizona over the weekend and solely scoring two complete runs in these losses. I’ll give the Brewers credit score for scoring eight runs of their lone win, however they wanted 10 innings to take action. Imagine needing further innings to keep away from getting swept by the Diamondbacks. I do know they’ve been scorching, however the Brewers are clearly the higher crew and are in must-win territory. They’re on the surface of the playoff bubble trying in proper now. And scoring ten runs complete over a four-game stretch towards Arizona is just not going to assist.

Good information for the Brewers although, they’ve seven straight video games towards Colorado, San Francisco, and Cincinnati to determine issues out earlier than they begin an eight-game stretch towards the Cardinals, Yankees, and Mets. If the Brewers need any hope of passing Philadelphia or San Diego, they’re going to want to win at the very least 5 of these subsequent seven.

At this charge, whichever groups can play even .500 ball till the tip of the season will most likely get a spot within the postseason. Given that the defending World Series champions, the Atlanta Braves, had the worst file of any playoff crew final yr, it’s not absurd to say that any crew that reaches the playoffs has a good shot of hoisting the World Series Championship Trophy on the finish of the yr. That stated, if the Phillies, Brewers, or Padres need that chance, they higher begin whipping themselves into gear. Now’s not the time to have a season-defining hunch.