The question that is on everyone’s mind is, can the Phillies make the playoffs? If the answer is yes, then all they need is a bit of luck to win the World Series.  Well that isn’t all they need, but I don’t see why it couldn’t happen.

If you recall, there are now two wild cards up for grabs. Currently, the Phillies are 5.5 games behind the Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates, who hold both wild card spots respectively. The San Francisco Giants and Colorado Rockies also stand in between the Phillies and a coveted invitation to the postseason.  Even though the Washington Nationals are just one half game behind the Phillies, I consider them completely irrelevant at this point because I can.

Last year the St. Louis Cardinals were awarded the second wild card with a record of 88-74. For arguments sake, let’s just say that is the benchmark.  That means the Phillies will have to go 57-43 over the remainder of the season. A winning percentage of .570 doesn’t seem out of the realm of possibility, does it? To me it actually seems somewhat doable.  Add to the fact that the other National League teams the Phillies would have to beat out for the spot are all majorly flawed, it seems like it will happen.

Boom. I said it. The Phillies are going to make the playoffs. Mark my words. That is, of course, if they don’t make the playoffs.  Then just forget I said all of this.

Jun 6, 2013; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins breaks his bat as he lines out in the 6th inning during the game against the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

Howard Smith-US PRESSWIRE

It takes a lot to put together a run.

First, you need to have dug yourself a hole so deep that even those who swore they’d always believed in you have turned their backs in utter disgust.  Next, you need to somehow acquire enough new players that the team begins interacting with itself differently enough that the stale air in the clubhouse begins to hum with a small electric charge.  Finally, you need the irritating, bullshit luck that falls on one team every year and allows for several of their awful players to become temporary superstars on their way to destroying the hopes of teams who have been diligently competent all season long.

Put all that together in September and you’ve got the magic of baseball!

Yes, the Phillies seem to believe they have found a path to the playoffs’ sleazy back door, and judging by the players’ quotes, the reporters’ questions, and media’s “analysis,” they are on their way, as long as they keep winning almost all of their games.

It’s a tall order, because the players on this team aren’t exactly astounding, but they have found a method to success that has yet to fail them in the second half:  Only play the shittiest teams in the league.

MLB’s schedule, as we know, is composed years in advance, and maintained in an enormous ledger covered in dust.  The bookkeeper is a 1,000-year-old tree–the same one the carve all the bats out of–whose branches form the times and dates each club will play, accounting for prime time broadcasts, ESPN Games of the Week, and commercials, of course.

So it’s not as if playing bad teams is a part of the Phillies’ plan.  I mean, it is now, because they’re doing it, but at this point, with them needing to win, and apparently able to win, it is an immense stroke of luck that they are lined up to play a series of teams who make it easier to win.

Also, we have Chooch, so… if you want to just give us that pennant, now, that’d be great. Howard Smith-US PRESSWIRE

Coming off a series sweep of the Rockies (Did you know that the Phillies are like 22-7 against the Rockies since 2008?  That is absurd, but I can’t find the data to back it up, I just heard Jim Jackson say it on the radio yesterday), the Phils move onto face the Marlins, then the Mets, then finish up the Least Coast Swing with a four-gamer against the Astros.  The Astros.

So, suddenly, the time is now.  I would like to point out that during this post-ASG stretch, the Phillies have won series against the Nationals and Reds and illustrated some consistency while doing it, so it’s not as if we’ve been punching our foes while they sleep and then running away.

If nothing else, this six-games back from the second Wild Card spot jazz has to have the PR department in a tizzy, as for the last few weeks of the season, they have an actual reason to try and get people to the ballpark, and not just “Come on down to Citizens Bank Park!  Most of the security staff has quit for the season, so you can get away with some of those god awful things you love to do in public.”