The Philadelphia Phillies have pushed all the way back up to second place in the NL East under Don Mattingly, resuscitating what once appeared to be a lost season. Still, they sit nine games back of the Atlanta Braves, a large (but not insurmountable) gap for late May.
As the Braves tend to injuries for a number of their key players, one would think now is the perfect time for the Phillies to make up some of that ground. There's gotta be an upcoming matchup on the way, right?
Um, nope! They won't get a chance to directly capitalize all summer. The next time the two division rivals will clash is in September.
Even if they keep it the way it is, they need to spread out when they play opponents. There is no reason why they should have played the Braves 6 times in a two week span.
— Phillies Tailgate (@PhilsTailgate) May 19, 2026
It's simply ridiculous that the two teams play each other 13 times per season, and yet they won't meet outside of April and September. This is something that has to be addressed by the league down the road, but all the Phillies can do now is win as much as possible prior to what may be a season-defining week in a few months.
Phillies-Braves scheduling in 2026 has made a repeat of NL East title more difficult
Back in mid- and late-April, the reeling Phillies had to play 10 games in as many days, six of which came against the Braves. If you want to get really technical, from April 13-26, the Phillies only played the Cubs and Braves, completing their entire season series against the former in a two-week span.
Naturally, mired in a disastrous start to the year, Philly lost five of those six games to Atlanta. Now, they won't play again until Sept. 4 ... at which point the two teams will play seven times in 10 days. Who thought that was a good idea?
Each team faces each of their division rivals in four series per year (13 total games). It's only natural that some of those games will overlap. But the fact that the Phillies will play all 13 of their games against the Braves this year in a cumulative 20-day span (broken up by five months of baseball) is just horrendous design.
The good news is that early season swoon hasn't knocked the Phillies out of the playoff picture; they're just four games out of the NL Wild Card chase. But it may have severely dented their chances of winning a third straight division title, all because they happened to come across the Braves when they were cold and their rival was hot.
Now back to their usual winning ways, at least Don Mattingly's club can spend the next four months knowing they won't run into the best team in baseball by record ... until their next gauntlet in September rolls around.
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