The Phillies missed an opportunity to clinch the NL East Sunday when they lost to Kansas City at Citizens Bank Park. The Mets didn’t help either as they snapped an eight-game losing skid with a Pete Alonso home run in the bottom of the 10th inning to beat the Texas Rangers.

The Phillies still have a very real opportunity to clinch the division earlier than they have ever clinched a division championship in the past. They would need to get the division wrapped up either Monday or Tuesday to beat the old mark or on Wednesday to match the earliest date that they have ever clinched the division before.

While they were unable to clinch the division Sunday, they did clinch a spot in the playoffs when the Brewers lost a 3-2 game to the Cardinals.

Earliest Division Clinching Dates in Phillies History

  • September 17 – 2011
  • September 25 – 1976
  • September 26 – 2024
  • September 27 – 2008, 2010
  • September 28 – 1977, 1983, 1993
  • September 30 – 1978, 2007, 2009
  • October 4 – 1980

2011 was the earliest that the Phillies have clinched the division and they did it with a 9–2 win over the Cardinals. This was the earliest clinch in franchise history and capped off a dominant season with 102 wins. The rotation featured Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, and Roy Oswalt, and the team was widely considered one of the best in club history.

September 30th has been a popular date. In 2007, the Phillies clinched the division on the final day of the season, overtaking the Mets in one of the most memorable collapses in baseball history. Not an early clinch, but a dramatic one. In 2009, it was a September 30th win win over the Astros. It marked their third consecutive division title and another trip to the World Series, where they fell to the Yankees.

World Series Championships

The Philadelphia Phillies clinched the National League East title on October 4, 1980. That decisive win came against the Montreal Expos at Olympic Stadium, with Mike Schmidt delivering a legendary 11th-inning home run to seal a 6–4 victory.

That homer didn’t just win the game, it eliminated the Expos from contention and avoided a potential one-game playoff the next day. Schmidt’s blast scored Pete Rose and capped off a dramatic late-season surge that propelled the Phillies into the postseason, where they eventually won their first World Series title.

The Phillies clinched the NL East with a win over the Nationals. This was their second straight division title and the beginning of a postseason run that ended with a World Series championship.

Best of the Best

The Phillies missed a chance to move closer to having the best record in the NL which provided home field advantage throughout the league playoffs. Milwaukee (91-59) is currently two games ahead of the Phillies (89-61) for the best record. Philadelphia has to win the battle for the best record outright since the Brewers have won four of the seven games between the two teams this season, effectively putting the Phillies three games behind Milwaukee.

Here and Now

The Phillies have a flight to Los Angeles where they will play the Dodgers (84-65) in a three-game series before having an off day on Thursday. The Dodgers lead the NL West, but have yet to clinch either the division or a spot in the playoffs. Next weekend, the Phillies move on to Arizona (75-75) for three against the Diamondbacks. Arizona is 9 1/2 games out in the NL West and two games back of the Mets (77-73) for the final wild card spot with the Giants (75-74) between the two teams.

The Mets are in the middle of a nine-game homestand and have three games coming up against San Diego (82-68), who are 2 1/2 games behind the Dodgers in the West and currently hold the second wild card spot by five games over the Mets. After that, the Washington Nationals (62-87) play at CitiField.