Thoughts on the Rest of the Phillies Schedule

Alright. I'm sitting here watching the Phils play the Reds and earlier Harry Kalas and Larry Andersen brought up a very interesting point. The Phillies have 49 games left, yet just 16 games against potential playoff teams. Yeah. I had to recount that just to make sure. It's true though. Just 16 games against the Reds, Mets, and Astros. Here's how the whole schedule plays out:

3 against the Reds (home)
4 against the Mets (home)
3 against the Nationals (home)
4 against the Cubs (away)
3 against the Mets (away)
3 against the Nationals (away)
4 against the Braves (home)
3 against the Astros (home)
4 against the Marlins (away)
3 against the Braves (away)
3 against the Astros (away)
3 against the Cubs (home)
3 against the Marlins (home)
3 against the Nationals (away)
3 against the Marlins (away)

The most important thing is to come out of this 7 game set with maybe 4 wins. Even 3 wouldn't be the end of the world. After that, their schedule is gravy. There's no reason they can't make a serious run at the wild card spot. Of course, this is the Phillies and they've blown better chances before.

Just for fun, I'm going to make a prediction for the Phillies. Looking at their schedule, I'm going to say that they go 31-18. That means they'll finish with a record of 86-76, 2 less wins than last season. I'm not going to be bold enough to predict wild card or not, but that's just because I don't want to be let down. Still, 86 wins would put them into contention, if nothing else.