Philly Leader

NEW YORK -- The Phillies had an opportunity to clinch the National League East title on Saturday evening with a victory over the Mets at Citi Field. A win would have allowed them to celebrate in Manhattan, watch football on Sunday afternoon, and finish a four-game series against their division rivals on Sunday night.

Instead, the Phillies must beat the Mets on Sunday night to clinch after losing 6-3 on Saturday.

“It didn’t work out,” Kyle Schwarber said. “The biggest thing for us, we want to be able to get the division won. And also, two, we want to keep winning baseball games until the end of the season. So that’s kind of the game plan right now.”

The Phillies need to win only one of their remaining seven games to secure their first division title since 2011. If they win just one more game, they will finish no worse than 93-69. Even if the Mets beat the Phillies on Sunday and win their remaining six games, they will finish no better than 93-69.

Because the Phillies won the season series against the Mets, they own the postseason tiebreaker against New York. Therefore, if both teams finish with 93 wins, Philadelphia wins the division.

The Phillies are also aiming for a first-round bye and a No. 1 seed in the NL playoffs. They could wrap up this bye early next week as they have three fewer losses than Milwaukee, who are NL Central champions.

Currently holding the No. 1 seed over the Dodgers (92-63) via tiebreaker after Los Angeles' loss at home to Colorado late Saturday night, Philadelphia has Zack Wheeler set to pitch on Sunday. Wheeler is motivated not only by leading his team to its first division title in 13 years but also by competing for the NL Cy Young Award against Braves left-hander Chris Sale. Wheeler is 6-1 with a 1.71 ERA in his past nine starts.

Schwarber started Saturday's game with a leadoff homer against Mets left-hander Sean Manaea. However, Manaea retired the next 12 batters he faced until Nick Castellanos hit a solo homer in the fifth inning to tie it at 2-2.

Ranger Suárez allowed two runs in five innings through solo homers by Francisco Alvarez and Luisangel Acuña but struggled with command at times despite increased velocity.

“I made some adjustments that helped me get my velocity back,” Suárez said through an interpreter.

Orion Kerkering allowed three runs in seventh inning play giving New York a 5-2 lead after walking Starling Marte and hitting Pete Alonso before big hits from Brandon Nimmo and Alvarez brought runners home—marking Kerkering's first runs allowed since August 15th.

“He’s been so good,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said about Kerkering’s performance prior to Saturday's setback. “He was due for one of these.”

After losing two out of three games earlier this week against Milwaukee pushing everything forward towards New York—their road trip culminates now either winning tonight or seeking victory next week back home.

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