Brewers Wild Card Race: Remaining Schedules for 3 Teams in the Hunt

Playoff races are meant to be exciting. This year, the Milwaukee Brewers are in the midst of a quest for a Wild Card spot, but their lack luster performance in the second half of the season (32-28 record) and botched trade deadline has overshadowed the fact that they are still in contention to make the playoffs.

Heading into Monday, the NL Wild Card standings today show the Brewers trailing the Phillies by 1.5 games and the Padres by 3.0. The Atlanta Braves hold the top Wild Card spot with a 11.5 game lead, and they have already clinched their spot in the playoffs.

This year, there will be no game 163’s and both the Phillies and the Padres hold the tie breakers over the Brewers. Essentially, this means the Brewers trail the Phillies by 2.5 games and the Padres by 4.0.

With just nine games remaining, the Brewers are going to need lots of contributions from different players in order to avoid being excluded from the playoffs for the first time since 2017.

With time winding down on the Brewers’ 2022 season, let’s review each of the NL Wild Card teams’ remaining schedules.

Milwaukee Brewers: 82-71

Remaining Schedule: Cardinals (2), Marlins (4), and Diamondbacks (3)

The Brewers longest consecutive playoff streak in franchise history is on the line this year. Most would have thought with the new expanded playoff format this year that the Brewers would be a virtual lock to be playing in October. Unfortunately, this is not the case, but they do have a favorable schedule to end the season that happens to all be at home.

Milwaukee will be looking to possibly flip the season series with St. Louis in their favor as they currently trail that series eight games to nine. They’ll also be looking for revenge against Arizona for a four-game series that they lost on the road earlier this month while hopefully continuing their success against Miami, who they took two of three games against on the road in May.

Whether the Brew Crew makes it into the postseason or not, they have a lot of players who may be playing in their final games of their Brewer careers.  Free agents-to-be include Andrew McCutchen, Omar Narvaez, Jace Peterson, and Taylor Rogers. They also have club option decisions on Kolten Wong and Brad Boxberger.  With a lot of young talented prospects knocking on the door, it should make for a very interesting offseason regardless of how their 2022 season ends.

Philadelphia Phillies: 83-69

Remaining Schedule: Cubs (3), Nationals (4), and Astros (3)

The Phillies are looking to end a playoff drought that spans over a decade as it has been since 2011 that they were last in the postseason. Last year they fell apart at the end of the season and they are looking to avoid a similar fate again in 2022 as they recently ended a five-game losing streak.

As for the remainder of the Phillies schedule, which unlike the Brewers is all on the road to end the season, the Cubs and Nationals are both below .500 with the Nationals having been hitting the ball well in the month of September and the Cubs coming off of two straight series wins.

Philadelphia ends the year against the Astros. It is pretty much a lock that the Astros will secure the No. 1 seed in the AL side of the playoffs, so they could elect to rest guys to end the year.  However, they also will have an entire week off before they play again, so their starters could play in that final series of the year to stay somewhat fresh.

San Diego Padres: 85-68  

Remaining Schedule: Dodgers (3), White Sox (3), and Giants (3)

2022 has been an interesting year for the Padres. Aside from the Fernando Tatis Jr drama, they have continued to add several pieces to their team for the second consecutive season. They added Juan Soto and Josh Bell in a blockbuster deal at the trade deadline as well as Brandon Drury and, of course, Josh Hader.  It would be a tough pill to swallow should they miss out on the playoffs despite adding all that talent.

Of the remaining schedules, the Padres may have the toughest. It doesn’t get any harder than to play the Dodgers, who are chasing the 1906 Cubs and 2001 Mariners record for most wins in a single season at 116.

The White Sox’s playoff hopes are currently hanging on by a thread and to end the year and you know the Giants would love nothing more than to knock their division foe out of the postseason. The one positive is that San Diego also gets to play their final three series in the comforts of home.

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On October 5, the MLB regular season officially ends. All teams will throw their first pitch at 3:10 PM CT that day. With all these different story lines, it should be an exciting end to the season.