Playoff baseball narrowly returns to South Jersey

They made you wait as long as possible, but the Philadelphia Phillies finally clinched the National League's final Wild Card spot Sunday afternoon.

Zack Wheeler was dominant, and the offense that had scored three runs in the previous 36 innings woke up, en route to their 7-3 victory.

It marks the fifth consecutive playoff appearance for the Phillies, something that's only been done one other time in franchise history, during the glory days of 2007-2011.

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Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images

The 2022-2026 Phillies will be looked at as glory days years from now as well. Whether they're looked at in the same light as '07-'11 hinges on whether they can finish the job and win a World Series.

This group has accomplished everything else. They've been to the World Series, made it to the National League Championship Series twice, won the NL East back-to-back years in 2024 and 2025, and punched three of the franchise's four Wild Card appearances in 2022, 2023, and 2026. They even clinched a playoff spot on the final day of the season at Citizens Bank Park for the first time since 2007.

Their reward? A 2:00 p.m. start Tuesday afternoon against Chris Sale and the Atlanta Braves. Yes, those Atlanta Braves, the team they knocked out of the playoffs on their two deepest runs in 2022, and 2023.

Even though they tormented their fans over the past week, seeing their magic number to clinch a playoff spot remain at two from Tuesday night until Sunday morning, they have as good of an opportunity of any team to make a run.

No, it wasn't pretty the way they made it in this year, but it didn't have to be. The second best era of Phillies' baseball has another chance for a title.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5's Kyle Clark. Any opinions expressed are his own.

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