Confession of a Phillies fan who left the Harper walkoff slam game early

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Bryce Harper mobbed by Phillies after walkoff grand slam

I have a confession to make. I'm a lifelong Phillies fan. A partial season ticket holder. I write about the team frequently here at my website.

I was at Thusday night's game in which the team rallied scoring seven times in the final two innings to come from five runs down and win on Bryce Harper's walkoff grand slam.

And I saw none of it. None of the runs. No part of the rally. Not live and in person anyway.

I gave up, and I left early.

To set the stage for you, this was perhaps the eighth game that I had been to this season. After an early season hot streak, things had deteriorated, for me and the ball club.

In each of the previous two games that I had been to, the Phillies had been blown out. Not only that, but they had not even shown up. Both times they were nearly shutout, had few hits, and the games were over by the middle innings.

Thursday night was much the same. The Phillies were down 5-0 when the top of the 8th inning rolled around. They had just four hits. Yu Darvish of the Cubs was dominating, striking out ten batters over seven innings.

So, as the 7th inning rolled around, I turned to my daughter with whom I was attending the game and told her that we would give it one more inning.

Really, I wasn't hoping for much from the Phillies at that point. The club was down 5-0 on the scoreboard and showing no life. This night on the field appeared to be solely for the many Cubs fans in the stands, including one who was seated directly behind us and had been chirping all night long.

No, I was willing to stay through the 7th inning to see, of all things, the Phillie Phanatic. Hey, the big green furry guy puts on a nice show in that frame, dancing on the Phillies dugout roof. He didn't disappoint, doing a nice number with a dance troupe from Temple University.

And so, as the action got underway in the top of the 8th, we left.

There was a good crowd at the ball park on a beautiful night. More than 37,000 showed up. Many left, both before us and as we were leaving. But there were still many who stayed. Those who stayed to the end would be the lucky ones. Well, at least those rooting for the home team.

We headed to the car, down towards I-95, and up onto the highway northbound. At somewhere between Bridge Street and Academy Road, the Phillies scored a run. I told my daughter, who was flipping through her phone in the passenger seat, that we scored a run. "Yay" she said, with sarcastic feigned enthusiasm.

I dropped her off at her house, and continued on to home. On the way, my wife asked me to make a stop at Wawa. As I drew nearer to our neighborhood, the Phillies had put two runners on base with one out in the bottom of the 9th inning, still down 5-1.

I slipped through the dark and quiet streets of our neighborhood, my headlights streaming out and the street lamps helping light the way, and as I pulled into the Wawa parking lot a base hit by Brad Miller scored Cesar Hernandez to make it a 5-2 ball game.

MLB 2019 Power Ranking: August 15

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David Peralta , Eduardo Escobar and Dbacks don't celebrate enough

The Philadelphia Phillies find themselves once again at 14th overall in the 2019 MLB Power Rankings as we reach the heart of the dog days of August.

Five clubs will make the playoffs from the National League. Each division champion will be joined by a pair of Wildcard teams. 

In this August 15 version of the Power Rankings, while the Phillies remain right where they were back on August 1 among all teams in Major League Baseball, they have slipped a notch in the National League.

On August 1, the Phillies were the sixth-highest ranked team and were involved in a three-way tie for the two NL Wildcard spots. Now they have slipped a notch, to seventh in the NL. The standings reflect that slippage, as the club is now two games in back of the second Wildcard.

The Phillies have four games left head-to-head with the Nationals, who now control the top NL Wildcard spot, three games ahead of the Phils. Those will take place in Washington at the end of September.

The Cubs are the team in the second Wildcard spot. The Phillies have captured the first two games of a head-to-head series between the two teams, and are 4-2 against Chicago this season.  On Thursday night, the Phillies try to sweep the series and move within a game of the Cubs.

My own personal feelings never have anything to do with the MLB Power Rankings. Instead, the rank is all about actual team performance: results in the standings and statistical breakdowns.

Cubs walkoff the Phillies with rally in bottom of the 9th

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Kris Bryant led the Cubs past the Phillies on Tuesday night at Wrigley

The host Chicago Cubs (28-18) rallied to a 3-2 walkoff victory over the Philadelphia Phillies (28-20) by scoring a pair of runs in the bottom of the 9th inning on Tuesday night at Wrigley Field on Chicago’s North Side.

The Cubs got on the board first thanks to the aggressiveness of Kris Bryant. The Cubs third baseman singled with one out in the bottom of the 1st inning and moved to second when Anthony Rizzo followed by drawing a walk.

Both runners were moving as Willson Contreras grounded to short, keeping them out of the doubleplay. The move paid off doubly as Bryant never stopped running while Jean Segura threw to first. Bryant slid in to home plate just ahead of the throw from Rhys Hoskins to give Chicago a 1-0 lead.

The Cubs nearly put another on the board in the home 4th inning. With two outs, Kyle Schwarber drew a walk. Bryant followed with a double down the left field line as Schwarber raced home and crossed the plate.

However, a challenge from Phillies skipper Gabe Kapler went the Phillies way thanks to a “stadium ground rules boundary” ruling that changed the play to a ground rule double. Schwarber was put back at third base, and Eflin then retired Rizzo on a fly out to center to escape trouble.

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After making the final out in right field in the sixth inning, Bryce Harper trolls Cubs fans and LAUNCHED the ball out of Wrigley Field and on to the rooftop.

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Big four-game series between Phillies and Cubs continues at Wrigley Field

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Wrigley Field is the site of a four-game series between Phillies and Cubs

The Philadelphia Phillies (28-19) woke up this morning in the Windy City with the club sitting at nine games over the .500 mark for the first time since last September 2.

On Tuesday night at Wrigley Field the Phillies will try to clinch at least a tie from this four-game series with the host Chicago Cubs (27-18) as the two first-place teams continue their battle. In last night’s wild series opener, the Phillies captured a 5-4 victory in 10 innings.

The Phillies have now won four straight close affairs to fashion their first four-game winning streak since capturing the first four of the 2019 season. During this stretch, the Phillies have won three times by a single run and won by two runs in the other game.

From July 31 through August 5 of last season the Phillies won five in a row. That pushed the club to 15 games over the .500 mark for the first time since the 2011 season. It was also the last time that the team won five straight games. They won six in a row twice during last season. On Tuesday night they will try to get five straight for the first time in the 2019 season.

TUESDAY STARTING LINEUPS

PHILLIES LINEUP

1. Andrew McCutchen LF
2. Jean Segura SS
3. Bryce Harper RF
4. Rhys Hoskins 1B
5. J.T. Realmuto C
6. Cesar Hernandez 2B
7. Scott Kingery CF
8. Maikel Franco 3B
9. Zach Eflin P

Jake Arrieta returning to form will be a major key for 2019 Phillies success

Arrieta had January knee surgery and looks ready

It was just over a year ago, on March 12, 2018, that free agent starting pitcher Jake Arrieta finally found a team for his services. Somewhat surprisingly, that team was the Philadelphia Phillies.

His choice was a bit of a surprise in that the Phillies were still trying to find a path back to long-term contending status. The team had not been a winner since 2011. At age 32, Arrieta was coming off a three-year stretch in which he had won both a Cy Young Award and World Series with the Chicago Cubs.

But with no other suitors willing to meet his price on a multi-year deal, Arrieta accepted the Phillies offer of a guaranteed $75 million over three seasons with two additional club option years.

The Phillies hoped that eight-year veteran could provide leadership to an otherwise young rotation as well as deliver consistently strong outings to help push the team closer to contention.

The leadership has come. The consistent strong outings came as well, but only for the first two months of the 2018 season. On May 29 of last season, Arrieta went seven shutout innings at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles as the Phillies downed the hosts by a 6-1 score.

He allowed just six hits, walked two and struck out five in raising his record to 5-2 on the year to that point. Over those first two months the right-hander allowed just a .230 batting average against. He yielded 48 hits over 58.1 innings with a 40/19 K:BB ratio and had given up just two home runs over his first 10 starts in a Phillies uniform.

But trouble suddenly developed in June. He suffered losses in four of his five outings and produced a frightening 6.66 ERA while surrendering seven long balls. Arrieta bounced back in July, when he pitched to a 2.80 ERA and .238 BAA across six starts. He went 4-0 in that stretch and allowed just two balls to leave the yard.

His August began with a gem in the Arizona desert. Arrieta went eight shutout innings against the host Diamondbacks, allowing just three hits and two walks. Unfortunately, young closer Seranthony Dominguez came on and blew a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the 9th of a game that the Phillies would ultimately lose in 14 innings.

Arrieta was rocked in San Diego six days later but recovered with a strong outing at home against the Mets on August 18. However, the offense let him down in that one for a 3-1 defeat. That was the first of eight losses in ten games that would drop the Phillies from a neck-and-neck battle with the Atlanta Braves at the top of the NL East standings to 4.5 games out.

By the end of the season it would grow to a 10-game deficit, and the pitching of Arrieta was partially to blame. Over his final seven starts beginning on August 24 he went just 1-3 with a 6.82 ERA, allowing 40 hits including nine homers over 34.1 innings.

In January 1982 trade of light-hitting shortstops, the Phillies dealt away a future Hall of Famer

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Sandberg was a 22-year-old prospect in January 1982

This latest installment of the “Phillies Hot Stove History” series was inspired by today’s 66th birthday celebration for Ivan DeJesus. While we may celebrate his birthday, few Phillies fans have ever celebrated the 1982 swap of shortstops that brought him to the team.

In short order this would prove to be one of the worst trades in franchise history. For younger fans who may have heard of the deal but not know how such a thing could happen, let’s take a quick look back at this key “hot stove” moment from the Phillies past.

As always, a little perspective is required to set the stage. At the time of the deal the Phillies were coming off a 1981 season in which they had been dethroned as world champions.

The veteran-laden 1980 Phillies had won the first World Series crown in franchise history. The following season was interrupted by a mid-season work stoppage, and the Phillies would return to the playoffs in 1981 thanks in part to a split-season format adopted by Major League Baseball.

In baseball’s first-ever Divisional Series, the Phillies were eliminated by the Montreal Expos in five games. Following that 3-2 series defeat, Owens looked over his roster and felt that an aging team that had won four of five NL East titles between 1976-80 needed more adjustments.

One key member of that 1970’s core group and 1980 championship team had already been dealt away when left fielder Greg Luzinski was sold to the Chicago White Sox at the end of spring training just prior to the 1981 season.

Owens decided that it was now time to turn the pages on the 36-year-old shortstop Larry Bowa, with whom he was having difficulty reaching agreement on a new contract.

THE GREEN FACTOR

Another pivotal factor in the trade was the man sitting in the General Manager’s seat on the Cubs side of the deal. Dallas Green had skippered the Phillies to that 1980 World Series title. Following the 1981 playoff defeat, Green was hired to become the new GM in Chicago.

Bryce Harper appears to be closing in on his future long-term home

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Harper may be baseball's prized free agent, and he appears to be narrowing his options

As the week rolls along at baseball’s Winter Meetings in his hometown of Las Vegas, Nevada, the rumors and the speculation regarding free agent outfielder Bryce Harper are going to be coming at us non-stop.

The Philadelphia Phillies interest in the 26-year-old superstar is no secret. There is need for a legitimate middle-of-the-order power hitter. There is no one in the Phillies outfield picture who would block him. There is plenty of money to meet any level of contract demand. And there is also a need for a drawing card, someone who will put fannies in the stands.

Harper’s agent is Scott Boras, and there is no doubt that he is going to be looking for the best possible financial deal. Of course, where Harper himself actually wants to play is going to be the bottom line. The money is going to be huge, no matter which team signs him.

So who else besides the Phillies would have interest when you consider those club’s financial, personnel, and other situations? The two biggest competitors emerging now would appear to be the Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers.

Speculation regarding the Dodgers surrounds the glitz and glamour of Los Angeles. Harper is a star who was seemingly made for Hollywood. Also, the Dodgers are a World Series contender right now.

The Dodgers have won six straight NL West crowns, have played for the National League Championship three straight years, and reached the World Series in each of the last two seasons.

Also, Los Angeles is pushing to get a trade done with the Cleveland Indians for ace Corey Kluber. Pairing him with Clayton Kershaw at the top of the rotation and adding Harper as a free agent would make the Dodgers favorites to win a third straight NL pennant in 2019.

Phillies Wall of Famer Jim Thome took part in a sales pitch to Harper on behalf of his 2006-09 Chisox club.

The White Sox are more of a dark-horse entry. The polar opposite of the Dodgers success, the Chisox have finished in fourth place for five straight seasons, and came in fifth (last) the year before that run. It’s tough to envision why Harper would want to join a losing team.

However, owner Jerry Reinsdorf and general manager Rick Hahn have been reportedly trying to sell Harper on their rebuilding plan. They are hoping that Harper will see himself as the key piece to a franchise that will become elite during the 2020’s, when he would be playing the bulk of his contract.

Final 2018 MLB Power Ranking

Ryan Braun and the Brewers ranked lowest
among MLB playoff teams
(Photo: Steve Paluch)

The 2018 Major League Baseball regular season has come to an end, and yet it still isn’t over. For the first time ever there will be a pair of “Game 163” events taking place.

The Chicago Cubs are hosting the Milwaukee Brewers at Wrigley Field at this very moment. The winner will be crowned champions of the National League Central Division. The loser will host the National League Wildcard Game tomorrow night.

Should the Cubbies win it would mark their third consecutive Central Division title. This will be their fourth straight postseason appearance. Back in 2015 the Cubs shut out the division-rival Pittsburgh Pirates in the NL Wildcard Game behind a 4-0 gem from Jake Arrieta.

The Brew Crew last captured the division crown back in 2011. That was the first division title for the franchise since their move to the National League for the 1998 season.

Prior to that you would have to go all the way back to 1982 and the “Harvey’s Wallbangers” team that won a second consecutive American League East Division title to find the last Brewers division championship squad.

Beginning at 4:09PM EDT the Los Angeles Dodgers will host the Colorado Rockies at Dodger Stadium. The winner of that contest will be crowned as champions of the National League West Division. The loser will travel to either Chicago or Milwaukee, whichever also loses today, for a do-or-die meeting in that National League Wildcard Game on Wednesday night.

The Dodgers have been kings of this division for a long time now. Los Angeles has captured the last five National League West Division titles and seven of the last 10 division crowns.

Last year the Dodgers rolled through the division-rival Arizona Diamondbacks and the Cubs, losing just once en route to the franchise’ first World Series appearance in nearly three decades. There they were defeated in seven games by the Houston Astros.

The Rockies played their first season as an expansion team back in 1993, and they have never won a division title. Colorado has advanced to the postseason four times, three as the division runners-up. Last year saw the Rockies losing an 11-8 slug-fest in the NL Wildcard Game to the Dbacks after finishing third behind LA and Arizona in the division during the regular season.

The Atlanta Braves are sitting home, able to relax and enjoy a few days break after running away with the National League East Division title. It marked the first division crown for the Braves in five years. Atlanta will travel to play whichever club wins the west in one National League Division Series beginning on Thursday.

Whichever team captures the Central Division title will play host to the survivor of the NL Wildcard Game in the other National League Division Series. That series is also scheduled to open on Thursday.

Over in the American League the match-ups have been set for some time. It will be the New York Yankees hosting the Oakland Athletics at 8:00PM EDT on Wednesday night in the American League Wildcard Game.

The winner of that game will then travel up to Fenway Park in Boston to face the host Red Sox in one American League Division Series beginning on Friday night. The Cleveland Indians will visit the defending World Series champion Houston Astros in the other ALDS beginning on Friday evening at Minute Maid Park.

Those four division series are each a best-of-five games, played in a 2-2-1 format as to home field. The winners in each league would advance to face one another in a best-of-seven League Championship Series. The winner of those would then meet towards the end of October in the 2018 World Series.

I released my first 2018 MLB Power Ranking on July 1, when the season was three months old. There have been four more since that time. Each time saw the Astros either alone at the top or sharing the top spot.

That remains the case in the below final 2018 MLB regular season rankings. The old saying remains true. If you want to be the champ, you’ve got to beat the champ. The Brewers are the lowest-ranked among all of the MLB playoff teams at 13th overall.

Mid-September MLB Power Ranking

Terry Francona's Tribe clinch the AL Central once again
(Photo: Arturo Pardavila III via Wiki Commons)

This past week was the final full week of summer in the 2018 Major League Baseball regular season. 

The teams are now fully immersed in the stretch run, those final pivotal battles to determine division champions and wildcard playoff participants.

One team, the Cleveland Indians, has already clinched its division crown. 

Terry Francona's Tribe took the lead in the American League Central Division for good on April 21. Struggling a bit from mid-May through mid-June, once they got hot they pulled away and were never seriously threatened

In the American League East Division, the Boston Red Sox are on the verge of clinching. The Bosox "Magic Number" is down to just four to eliminate the arch-rival New York Yankees.

Out in the American League West Division, the defending World Series champion Houston Astros have re-established some measure of control. The Astros now hold a 3.5 game lead on the Oakland Athletics, four in the all-important loss column of the standings, and 11 is now their "Magic Number" to clinch.

Despite likely falling shot in their bids for a divisional crown, both the Yankees and A's can begin printing their playoff tickets as well. Each team is firmly in control of the two AL Wildcard playoff berths, and they are headed for a one-game playoff showdown with one another.

The Seattle Mariners and Tampa Bay Rays each trail Oakland by seven games in the loss column. The A's "Magic Number" is now just 7 in order to clinch that last available postseason berth.

While the AL playoff race is pretty much set, the National League races promise a far different and much more exciting final two weeks to the regular season.

Thanks to a collapse over the last six weeks by the second place Philadelphia Phillies, the Atlanta Braves are closing in on the franchise' first division title in five years. The "Magic Number" is down to just nine for Atlanta, though the Phillies and Braves will meet seven times over the final week and a half.

The Chicago Cubs are trying to take their third consecutive NL Central crown. It would mark the first time since a 1906-08 run that the Cubs finished in first place. Chicago has just a 2.5 game lead on the Milwaukee Brewers, three in the loss column, and it's still a bit too premature to be discussing a "Magic Number" for the South Side ball club.

A two-horse race appears to be emerging in the wild, wild west. The National League West Division's five-time defending champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers, just took over the lead by a half-game on the Colorado Rockies.

The two clubs are tied in the loss column, and they will meet for the final time this coming week. That three-game set will take place at Dodger Stadium with a sweep by either team probably settling things.

The Arizona Diamondbacks began the month in first place. But losses in 10 of their last 14 have likely doomed the Dbacks to fighting for a Wildcard berth. Those two NL Wildcard slots are currently held by the Brewers and Rockies.

The Saint Louis Cardinals are just a game back of Colorado in the loss column for the second and final spot. Arizona and the Philadelphia Phillies are sitting four games out of that final playoff position and are both running out of time. If either or both is going to make a final push, the time is now.

There is an old sports saying that goes "If you want to be the champ, you've got to beat the champ." Well at least as far as my MLB Power Rankings are concerned, that remains the case in Major League Baseball. The Houston Astros are once again on top. They have sat there alone or shared the lead all summer long.

My formula for compiling the rankings has remained unchanged. I researched each of the 30 MLB teams current position in the four categories of winning percentage, runs scored, pitching OPS, and fielding percentage. I then assigned each of those rankings a 1-30 value and added them up to determine an overall score.

The current MLB Power Ranking going into games of Sunday, September 16 are presented below. Each team's previous rank from the MLB All-Star break in mid-July, then the middle of August, and finally back on Labor Day is also presented from L-R in parentheses:

1.   Houston Astros (1-1T-1)
2.   Boston Red Sox (2-1T-2)
3.   New York Yankees (3-3-3)
4.   Atlanta Braves (4-6-4)
4.   Oakland Athletics (11-7-6)
6.   Cleveland Indians (10-4T-5)
7.   Los Angeles Dodgers (6-9T-10)
8.   Chicago Cubs (5-8-6)
8.   Washington Nationals (13-11-9)
10. Tampa Bay Rays (15-16-12)
10. Arizona Diamondbacks (7-4T-8)
12. Colorado Rockies (9-9T-11)
13. Los Angeles Angels (14-12-15)
14. Milwaukee Brewers (8-14-14)
15. Seattle Mariners (12-13-16)
16. Saint Louis Cardinals (18T-15-13)
17. Pittsburgh Pirates (18T-20-20)
17. New York Mets (24-26-20)
19. Cincinnati Reds (21-21-18)
19. San Francisco Giants (20-18T-17)
21. Philadelphia Phillies (16-17-18)
22. Minnesota Twins (17-18T-20)
22. Toronto Blue Jays (25-24-23)
24. Kansas City Royals (27T-27-27)
25. Texas Rangers (26-22-24)
25. Miami Marlins (23-25-26)
27. Detroit Tigers (22-23-24)
28. San Diego Padres (27T-28-29)
29. Chicago White Sox (30-29T-28)
30. Baltimore Orioles (29-29T-30)

These will be the penultimate MLB Power Rankings for this season. The final rankings are scheduled to come out on October 1, at the conclusion of the regular season and before the playoffs begin. They will be based on the final statistics accumulated by each team this year.

Originally published at Phillies Nation as "Mid-September MLB Power Ranking"

MLB, NFL, and college football to join those affected by Hurricane Florence

Hurricane Florence (upper right) approaches the Carolinas
(Photo: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center via Wiki Commons)

The Philadelphia Phillies have an off-day in the 2018 schedule today. Thursday will be spent at their homes, with the slumping club in the middle of the final lengthy home stand of the season.

As the Phillies sit at home, the Miami Marlins are on the road. Today they will be making the short trip down I-95 from New York to Philadelphia following a series there with the host Mets.

After completing their sweep of the Phillies last night, the Washington Nationals headed back south to their home in the nation’s capital. The Nats will host the Chicago Cubs to make-up a game postponed during a series affected by weather just last weekend.

The Nationals, who have now pulled within a single game of the Phillies in the loss column in the National League East Division standings, then go on the road further south for a five-game trip to Atlanta and Miami.

All of this Major League Baseball action up and down the east coast comes at exactly the same time that Hurricane Florence will be reaching the United States.

The massive storm is expected to strike directly at the North Carolina-South Carolina border late Thursday and into Friday leaving destruction and likely death in its wake thanks to high winds, storm surge, flooding, and related issues.

The weather forecast in Philadelphia is looking good for this weekend, with no more than a 20% chance of rain at any point. That is thanks to a high-pressure system, one that will actually be a major contributor to the problems experienced by others.

That high-pressure system will keep Florence to our south, holding it in place in the Carolinas longer. This means heavy rainfall and flooding will continue inland for days after the storm makes its initial landfall at the coast.

But for their division rivals and for at least one of the Phillies own players, the storm will still be having an effect. In fact, because of the proximity to the storm area and even the slight chance that it could track a bit further north, the Cubs wanted to have their trip to D.C. postponed until October 1.

Whitney McIntosh with SB Nation described how the whole Nationals-Cubs situation developed in the first place, and why this particular date was selected for the make-up game:

“…all stemmed from a rainy weekend in D.C., which involved more than 10 hours of rain delays over multiple days. Including a Friday night debacle (September 7) where the Nationals wanted to call it early and Cubs players held out in the hopes the rain would move on. Frustration abounded and fans were confused as the delay dragged on into the night. That all led to a late-night postponement and a true doubleheader played on Saturday (which was also delayed!), followed by yet another postponement on Sunday. With Thursday the only shared off day for both teams, it was the easiest and only choice for a rescheduling.”

Bottom line, MLB did not want to risk the chance of rescheduling on October 1, which was the Cubs preference due to the storm. What if that game proved vital to the standings and was itself postponed by weather? Such a scenario could then back-up the entire postseason schedule. “Our voices have certainly been heard, but we don’t have any control,” said Chicago GM Theo Epstein per McIntosh.

Labor Day MLB Power Ranking

Atlanta Braves fans rooting on the NL's top-ranked team

The Labor Day weekend is coming to an end. September baseball is upon us. 

Pennant races. Heated divisional rivalry battles. Wild wildcard scenarios. And another MLB Power Ranking released.

The defending World Series champion Houston Astros were either alone or tied at the top of my Power Rankings as summer was opening at the start of July, again at the MLB All-Star Game break, and then also in mid-August.

Now the Astros are back alone on top. How did they earn that distinction? Houston enjoys the top pitching staff in baseball. They are tied with the Arizona Diamondbacks as MLB's top defensive team. They are fourth in all of baseball in runs scored.

Sitting at 30 games above the .500 mark on Labor Day, Houston has been pushed this summer by the incredible run that the division rival Oakland Athletics have been on since the middle of June. 

The A's woke up on the morning of Saturday, June 16 in the midst of a four-game losing streak. The club had dropped 11 of its previous 18 games. They had sunk to fourth place in the AL West, 11.5 games off the lead. Their season looked essentially over.

Oakland defeated the division-rival Los Angeles Angels that night, and then walked-off the Halos on Sunday afternoon to get back to the .500 mark. 

It was the beginning of an amazing turnabout, one that saw Oakland go 48-20 over the summer months to build a 5.5 game lead in the AL Wildcard race. The A's also now trail the Astros by just three games in the loss column in the AL West Division standings.

The Cleveland Indians have run away with the American League Central Division race. Terry Francona's Tribe, losers of a heartbreaking seven-game World Series just two years ago, will be back in the postseason once again trying to end the franchise' now 70-year championship drought.

In the AL East, the Boston Red Sox have built a comfortable seven-game lead on the arch-rival New York Yankees. The Yanks, with baseball's second-best overall record and now third in the power rankings appear headed towards a one-game Wildcard showdown for their season.

The Seattle Mariners are five games behind Oakland in the loss column and the Tampa Bay Rays are seven back. Those are the only teams even remotely capable of a push towards the AL's second Wildcard playoff berth.

In the National League, things appear far more interesting. The Atlanta Braves lead the Philadelphia Phillies by four games in the NL East. The Chicago Cubs hold a six-game edge on both Milwaukee and Saint Louis in the NL Central.

New this month in the senior circuit? Those Braves have risen to become the top-ranked team in the National League for the first time this season. With a young, talented ball club, Atlanta promises to be a contender for years to come.

In the NL West, the Los Angeles Dodgers have taken the lead, but are tied with the Colorado Rockies in the loss column. The Dbacks sit just a game behind those two in what looks for all the world like a three-horse race down to the wire.

The National League Wildcard picture is, well, wild. The Brewers and Cardinals currently hold the two available playoff spots. But the Rockies are just a game back, with the Dbacks and Phillies just two and three games back respectively.

My formula for compiling the MLB Power Ranking remains unchanged. I researched each of the 30 MLB teams current position in the four categories of winning percentage, runs scored, pitching OPS, and fielding percentage. I then assigned each of those rankings a 1-30 value and added them up to determine an overall score.

The current MLB Power Ranking on Labor Day are presented here, with each team's previous rank from July 1, the MLB All-Star break in mid-July, and then the middle of August from L-R in parentheses: 

This week could mark a last stand for Phillies 2018 postseason chances

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Kapler's Phillies host the Nationals and Cubs in pivotal homestand

This has easily been the most interesting summer of baseball in Philadelphia in the last five years. 

Not since a too-little, too-late charge at the second NL Wildcard slot in September of 2012 have the Phillies provided fans with this level of sustained excitement.

On Friday, July 6 the Phillies crushed the host Pittsburgh Pirates by a 17-6 score at PNC Park to move into first place in the National League East Division. The club would remain perched atop the division standings for nearly six weeks.

Even after Sunday’s 8-3 win in Toronto, the Phillies have lost 11 of their last 17 games. The Braves have won nine of their last 16 in the same time frame. The result has been that Atlanta has slipped past them and built up a three-game lead in the division.

The Phillies are clearly reeling. All season long the club failed to score runs on a consistent basis and played unacceptable defense. But the starting pitching was mostly excellent, the bullpen got hot in July, and new manager Gabe Kapler kept the mostly young ball club believing in itself, enough to overcome their frequent mistakes.

That is no longer the case. Since sweeping a four-game set at home against the Miami Marlins at the start of August the Phillies have not managed to win any of their last half-dozen series.

The club now returns home to Citizens Bank Park for a pair of three-game match-ups. First will be the always tough Washington Nationals beginning with tonight’s 7:05PM series opener.

Zach Eflin, generally struggling since early July, will take the mound. The Phillies really need him to step up, but also need the offense to support him in order to get the week off on the right footing.

It would also be important to get the week started strong since Aaron Nola will take the mound for the Phillies in the second game on Tuesday night. Nola is having a Cy Young-caliber season, and will give the club an excellent chance at picking up a victory.

Following Wednesday’s series finale with Jake Arrieta on the mound the Phillies are scheduled to enjoy an off-day on Thursday. Next weekend it will be the team currently holding the best record in the National League invading South Philly as the Chicago Cubs come to town.

Hamels is scheduled to take the mound for the Cubs next Sunday

If the rotation and weather hold up the Phillies would be scheduled to send Nick Pivetta, Vince Velasquez, and Eflin out against the Cubbies. Should the Chicago rotation hold up, their start on Sunday, September 2 would go to old friend Cole Hamels.

Since a deal just prior to the non-waiver trade deadline sent the now 34-year-old lefty from the Texas Rangers to Chicago, Hamels has been phenomenal. Over five starts he has a 4-0 record, allowing just 24 hits over 34 innings with a 30/8 K:BB ratio.

It would not be at all surprising to see Kapler make the decision to bump Eflin back a day, starting Nola on his normal four days of rest against Hamels and the Cubs.

The further schedule reveals that the Phillies have a long nine-game home stand beginning on September 10. If they can fight to remain in the race, those would make for some seriously fun days and nights down at the ball park. And then you have seven of the final 11 games of the season with the Braves.