They’ll play in three different stadiums, but this is the Phillies’ shortest week the rest of the season and it begins Tuesday night in Toronto, the first of a two-game series.
Both the Phillies and Blue Jays are in wild-card position. The Phils possess the National League’s top wild-card spot (fourth seed), are two games ahead of the fifth-seeded Giants and 2.5 ahead of the sixth-seeded the Marlins. The Cubs, the first team out, are a game back of Miami.
The Blue Jays are in the third American League wild-card slot, two games up on the Mariners team at their heels.
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While the Phillies have two off-days this week and a three-game weekend series against the last-place Nationals (Sunday in Williamsport), the Giants have six games against the Rays (72-49) and Braves (76-42).
The Phils have a chance to really widen their lead ahead of the Giants’ arrival at Citizens Bank Park for a three-game series beginning Monday.
Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola will start in Toronto, opposing lefty Yusei Kikuchi and right-handed ace Kevin Gausman. The Phillies were held in check Saturday and Sunday by Twins righties Pablo Lopez and Sonny Gray, and Gausman will be an equal if not greater challenge. Gausman shut them out with nine strikeouts over six innings on May 10 in Philly.
Toronto is playing without star shortstop Bo Bichette, who has been out in August with right patellar tendinitis. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hasn’t hit for the same power. George Springer had been in a big slump until the last few days. Daulton Varsho’s OPS is 101 points lower than last season. Coincidentally, so is Alejandro Kirk’s.
Philadelphia Phillies
The Blue Jays have been disappointing offensively. They scored 11 runs Sunday but 13 in their prior six games. There are tough at-bats up top in Whit Merrifield, Brandon Belt, Guerrero and Springer, but the bottom half of the lineup can be taken advantage of.
The two days off this week and the Phillies’ recent use of a six-man rotation has given Wheeler a full week off between starts. He threw 95 pitches over six innings in a win over the Nationals last Tuesday. Wheeler prefers to pitch every fifth day and has been at his best this season on normal rest, going 4-0 with a 1.60 ERA in seven starts. He also has a far lower career ERA on normal rest (3.03) than with extra (3.84). Still, it’s hard to argue with giving workhorses like Wheeler and Nola more time given their importance in October. The same applies to Michael Lorenzen, who has already exceeded his career-high in innings, and Taijuan Walker, who is 38 away from his.
Lorenzen will start on Friday, eight days after his no-hitter. Walker will be pushed back. The Phillies plan to veer away from the six-man rotation after this week because they won’t be giving guys extra rest in the playoffs and want to get them back on a normal schedule after several irregular cycles through the staff.