The Phillies finally took the last National League Wild Card spot on the final day of the regular season. They beat Tampa Bay 7-3 on Sunday, ending a four-game losing streak, while Arizona lost 9-4 at San Diego. MLB's official schedule marks both games final. Philadelphia finishes 88-74; the Diamondbacks finish 86-76. The tiebreaker that made Saturday's one-game margin precarious never came into play.
The win was not a routine finish to a routine race. The Associated Press reported that Philadelphia had four earlier chances to secure the berth and missed them, leaving Zack Wheeler to start Game 162 against the AL East champion Rays. Wheeler delivered six innings with one earned run and five strikeouts, according to MLB's game feed. He got the win. The start solved Sunday's problem while also raising a postseason rotation question: the Phillies used their top starter in the finale, so the timing of his next appearance depends on rest and the club's Wild Card plan. No Game 1 assignment should be presumed.
Philadelphia did not wait for Arizona's result to create separation. Bryson Stott's first-inning double scored Kyle Schwarber. J.T. Realmuto doubled in a second-inning run, and Schwarber's own double brought home two more for a 4-0 lead. The Rays got a pair of Jonny DeLuca homers, but the Phillies answered in the fifth with a Bryce Harper homer, a Brandon Marsh sacrifice fly and an Edmundo Sosa homer. Those details come from the official play-by-play.
Arizona's 9-4 loss to the Padres removed any remaining doubt. MLB's standings now mark the Phillies with a Wild Card clinch indicator. The Diamondbacks needed both a victory of their own and a Philadelphia loss entering Sunday; they got neither.
For RANT readers, the debate changes from whether Philadelphia can hold its September cushion to whether it can make a run after spending Wheeler on the final day. Sunday's bats supplied seven runs after Saturday's 12-1 rout by the Rays. That is a real response, but the postseason test will be different. The berth is settled; the lineup and rotation choices ahead are next.
