(Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)
Last year, the Philadelphia Phillies snuck into the postseason with one of the last spots.
They weren’t really among the National League favorites at any point, yet eliminated some of the best teams on their way to their first World Series since 2009.
In the end, the Houston Astros proved too good to beat, but the Phillies put Philadelphia on the baseball map for the first time in a while.
They have been solid this season, as well, with a 69-58 record.
That’s good for second place in the NL East standings.
As of Friday, they have a 2.5-game lead in the NL Wild Card picture.
FanGraphs (through Codify Baseball) posted its updated Wild Card odds.
Unsurprisingly, the Phillies are first with 82.9 percent odds of being a Wild Card team.
Here is the complete ranking.
Chances of being a 2023 wild card team (FanGraphs):
82.9% PHI
63.2% TB
58.7% TOR
51.9% ARI
50.9% SF
43.1% SEA
42.5% TEX
38.6% HOU
38.2% CHC
36.3% BAL
27.2% MIA
21.5% CIN
17.4% BOS
16.5% MIL
9.8% SD
0.9% NYM
0.2% LAD
0.1% NYY
0.0% LAA PIT WSH STL ATL DET MIN CLE CWS KC OAK COL
— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) August 25, 2023
Why are the Phillies first?
They are not good enough to get in as division champs: that distinction will likely go to the 82-44 Atlanta Braves, who hold a 13.5-game cushion over the Phillies in the East.
However, the Phillies are quite comfortably the best of the non-division leaders in the National League.
They have a three-game advantage over the San Francisco Giants and the Cincinnati Reds.
It’s not a huge cushion, so the Phillies will need to keep their foot on the gas.
Still, since the odds are calculated using Friday’s standings, they are favored to finish the 2023 campaign as a Wild Card squad.
Is Philadelphia capable of making a similar run to last year’s?
With a few key additions such as Trea Turner and Michael Lorenzen, they have the resources to pull it off again.
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