Because the Phillies can never make our lives easy as fans -- would it really be Philadelphia sports if they did? -- they crashed and burned in the final two games of their series against the Milwaukee Brewers this week. Not only has that kept the door ajar for the Arizona Diamondbacks in the Wild Card race, but it very well might throw off the team's pitching plans for the postseason (if they're able to survive and make it).
Heading into the final series of the regular season against the Tampa Bay Rays, the Phillies were slated to start Christopher Sánchez, José Urquidy, and Zack Wheeler over the weekend. Ideally, you'd replace Wheeler with someone else, pushing his start back to Game 1 of the Wild Card Series in Atlanta.
But you can only do that if you have a playoff spot locked up. If the Phillies are still fighting for their lives on the final day of the season, Wheeler is going to have to take the mound. In turn, that would leave Don Mattingly with a less-than-ideal trio to trot out against the Braves (assuming they clinch a spot at all).
And Friday's loss behind Sánchez's left arm only makes this more dire.
If Wheeler has to pitch Sunday and the Phillies advance to the Wild Card Series, we’re looking at a Nola, Sanchez, Painter rotation in the first round.
— Phillies Tailgate (@PhilsTailgate) September 25, 2026
Not ideal. https://t.co/Ajf0BXVEmI
Pressure is on Phillies this weekend to keep Zack Wheeler on normal rest heading into playoffs
The good news about the way the schedule lines up is that Sánchez will be on regular rest for Game 2 of the Wild Card Series. No matter what, so long as they make the postseason bracket, Phillies are guaranteed to have him take a start in the best-of-three matchup.
The bad news is that neither of the team's other two aces -- Wheeler and Jesús Luzardo -- are locks to pitch. The southpaw has been on the injured list with a shoulder issue for the past few weeks, and while he recently threw a "problem-free" bullpen session, he won't be trusted to start after nearly a month-long break with no rehab assignment. At best, he can maybe serve as a piggyback reliever if another starter struggles.
The Phillies could sidestep the Wheeler-related scheduling conflict by asking him to start on short rest in Game 3 of the Wild Card Round, but that would require both actually getting to that point in the series in the first place, as well as the courage to send him out there in a sudden-death game on three days' rest. Still, that's probably a better plan than tasking rookie Andrew Painter with shutting down the Braves in that situation instead.
With Mattingly and the Phillies already confirming that they plan to "use as few pitchers as possible" in the postseason, taking the mound under extraordinary circumstances will become commonplace this October. That much we can all be sure about. It would just be nice if Wheeler could take the day off on Sunday, without having the pressure of needing to drag this organization back to the playoffs.
The Phillies need a win and a Diamondbacks loss desperately on Saturday. They've removed all margin for error.
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