Phillies Wild-Card Lead Cut to One as D-backs Win Sixth Straight — SkimNews
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- Philadelphia Phillies saw their NL wild-card lead collapse from four games to one over three days, scoring just two runs with zero home runs since Tuesday while dropping three straight.
- Arizona Diamondbacks ripped off six consecutive wins — 48 runs during that stretch — keyed by Nolan Arenado's four homers in his last five games, including his 30th of the season Friday.
- Arizona holds the tiebreaker over Philadelphia via superior intradivision record (32-18 in the NL West vs. Philadelphia's 28-24 in the NL East), so the Diamondbacks need only to pull even — not take the outright lead — to claim the third wild-card spot.
- Of nine possible weekend outcomes between the two teams, six favor the Phillies, who can clinch a postseason berth with back-to-back wins Saturday and Sunday no matter what Arizona does.
- The Phillies want to avoid starting Zack Wheeler on Sunday so he can pitch Game 1 of the Wild Card Series; Luis Luzardo, sidelined since Sept. 7 with a shoulder issue, threw a bullpen session Thursday and could return in relief.
- Schedule luck has widened: the Phillies ran into the MLB-best Brewers this week while the D-backs fattened up on the MLB-worst Rockies, and Philadelphia now faces the AL-best Rays while Arizona plays the Padres in sunny San Diego.
Why it matters: Because Arizona owns the tiebreaker, the Phillies must win outright — not simply match — over the final two days, and every loss puts their postseason fate out of their own hands. With Zack Wheeler's Game 1 availability hanging in the balance, Philadelphia's bullpen math this weekend directly shapes its playoff rotation and could turn a tired late-September stumble into a historic collapse.
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