At 66-65 with 31 games to go and a half-game behind the San Diego Padres in the National League’s wild-card chase, I’m going to go out on a limb and say the Phillies will be playing baseball in October this year.
Why?
All the other teams in the race stink.
Here's the standings:
| 2006 National League Wild Card Standings | |||||||||||
| NATIONAL | W | L | Pct | GB | HOME | ROAD | RS | RA | STRK | L10 | |
| San Diego | 67 | 65 | .508 | - | 33-36 | 34-29 | 588 | 583 | Won 1 | 6-4 | |
| Philadelphia | 66 | 65 | .504 | .5 | 33-35 | 33-30 | 695 | 687 | Won 1 | 7-3 | |
| Cincinnati | 67 | 66 | .504 | .5 | 35-33 | 32-33 | 655 | 680 | Lost 5 | 4-6 | |
| Florida | 65 | 66 | .496 | 1.5 | 35-30 | 30-36 | 616 | 615 | Won 9 | 9-1 | |
| San Francisco | 65 | 67 | .492 | 2 | 38-31 | 27-36 | 613 | 609 | Lost 1 | 6-4 | |
| Arizona | 64 | 68 | .485 | 3 | 32-34 | 32-34 | 647 | 666 | Lost 1 | 3-7 | |
| Houston | 64 | 68 | .485 | 3 | 35-31 | 29-37 | 607 | 603 | Won 4 | 6-4 | |
| Atlanta | 62 | 68 | .477 | 4 | 29-34 | 33-34 | 687 | 654 | Won 3 | 6-4 | |
| Milwaukee | 62 | 70 | .470 | 5 | 39-26 | 23-44 | 597 | 680 | Lost 5 | 4-6 | |
| Colorado | 61 | 70 | .466 | 5.5 | 34-31 | 27-39 | 598 | 594 | Lost 1 | 2-8 | |
It's very reasonable to think that 84 victories can get a team into the playoffs this year, and based on the matchups and how the teams are playing, why couldn't the Phillies go 18-13 the rest of the way.
On another note, wouldn't it be kind of neat if the Florida Marlins snuck in there? They will probably fire the manager at the end of the season and tore the team apart during the off season, so it would be neat for those young players.
Then again, the owner probably doesn't deserve it.