Phillies avoid historic choke to clinch fifth straight MLB playoff trip

The 2026 Philadelphia Phillies won't join their 1964 brethren in the annals of franchise ignominy.

After four consecutive losses that imperiled a playoff berth that long ago seemed secured, the Phillies took a deep breath, handed the ball to ace Zack Wheeler and recorded their 88th victory of the season, just enough to provide their fifth consecutive playoff berth.

Wheeler gave up one run in six innings and a club starving for offense received fifth-inning home runs from Bryce Harper and Edmundo Sosa to beat the Tampa Bay Rays 7-3 at a rain-soaked Citizens Bank Park on Sunday, Sept. 27.

With the victory, the Phillies advance to play division rival Atlanta in the best-of-three wild card series beginning Tuesday at Truist Park.

And they're also free to once again show their faces around town.

Interim manager Don Mattingly moved to put the terrible final month and week behind the Phillies as he addressed the club before they popped the obligatory champagne.

""It's just the start," Mattingly told his club. "(Expletive) that. It doesn't matter how you get in. And we're (expletive) in."

It wasn't just that the Phillies clenched up instead of clinching in these final days of September. They…

Original source: https://www.usatoday.com/sports/