Half a game, and four to play in Queens
Philadelphia sit 84-68 and half a game behind the Chicago Cubs in the race for the National League’s top wild card. That gap decides home-field advantage in a best-of-three series, and the Phillies open four games at Citi Field tonight against a Mets side (69-83) whose season ended on Monday.
Aaron Nola takes the ball, 6-10 with a 4.69 ERA this year but 11-11 with a 3.46 mark across 32 career starts against New York. Nolan McLean answers for the Mets at 11-9 and 3.24, and his record against Philadelphia reads 2-1 with a 0.47 ERA over three outings. The recent numbers do not favor the visitors.
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Wheeler will not pitch, which suits the Mets
Zack Wheeler is the only member of the Phillies rotation not scheduled this week, and New York will take that. He scattered four hits over seven scoreless innings on Wednesday in a 3-0 win over Washington, his longest scoreless start since May 17. Since leaving the Mets after the 2019 season, Wheeler is 82-42 with a 2.92 ERA in Philadelphia colours.
“This time of the season is cool, it’s special,” Wheeler said. “This is where you want to be, and these games really, really matter.”
That win carried more weight than most. Philadelphia had taken just one of its previous five games and lost All-Star Jesus Luzardo to the 15-day injured list on Tuesday, retroactive to September 12, with left shoulder inflammation. The Phillies also hold a one-game cushion over San Diego.
Alonso’s homecoming turned the week into theatre
The Mets spent three days watching Pete Alonso wreck them in an Orioles uniform. He hit 264 home runs for New York between 2019 and 2025, a franchise record, before signing a five-year, $155 million deal with Baltimore in December. On Tuesday he struck the 300th homer of his career, a ninth-inning equaliser that drew a curtain call from the crowd that used to be his. Baltimore completed the sweep on Wednesday, 7-1.
“Unique is a fair descriptor of the last couple of days,” interim manager Andy Green said, before adding that winning baseball would bring the fans back into New York’s corner.
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