Who do you want the Phillies first postseason opponent to be?

With Wednesday night’s win, the Phillies officially secured a first-round bye out of the Wild Card round and into the Divisional Round of the postseason. They are currently the number two seed in the National League, and although they are technically still alive for the number one seed at the time of this writing, the Milwaukee Brewers magic number to clinch that top seed is down to one. So, there’s a strong chance that by the time you’re reading this that the Phillies will be officially locked into the second seed, meaning they would have home field advantage against every team in the NL postseason picture except the Brewers.

We know when the Phillies will play their first postseason game, as Game 1 of the NLDS will take place on Saturday, October 4th. However, we do not yet know who the Phillies will face in that game at Citizens Bank Park.

One of the possibilities that is locked in is the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers of course bring loads of star power with Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Blake Snell among others. But, as we saw last week when the Phillies traveled to L.A., the Dodger bullpen is a massive weak point for a roster that otherwise doesn’t have too many. The Phillies have also handled the Dodgers extremely well over the last two seasons, as Philadelphia is 9-3 against L.A. since the start of 2024.

The Dodgers however will have to get through the Wild Card round, but their opponent is not locked in just yet either. As of right now, that would be the New York Mets. The Mets flip-flopped back and forth for much of the season with the Phillies for first place in the NL East, but New York has taken a tumble down the standings in the second half and is now fighting for its playoff life. The Mets are 26-35 since the All-star break, good for the fifth worst record across MLB. But as we saw last year, if this team gets hot, they are very capable of going on a run. The Phillies recent nightmares at Citi Field loom large over this potential rematch as well, as does the Mets shaky pitching staff.

The Mets have to fend off the likes of the Cincinatti Reds and the Arizona Diamondbacks before they can start planning for the Dodgers though. The Reds are only a half game back of the Mets as this is written and hold the tiebreaker via head-to-head record while the D-Backs are one game back of New York and also own the tiebreaker. However, the Reds also hold the crucial tiebreaker in the event of a three-way tie, meaning that the Mets need to finish at least a game better than each of the Reds and D-Backs.

The Phillies have had middling success this season against the Reds and D-Backs, as they tied the season series with both at 3-3. Arizona carries some of its own demons of postseasons past and the Reds have Hunter Greene and Nick Lodolo lurking, although both would likely be burned in the Wild Card round before the NLDS and Lodolo exited yesterday’s game as a precaution with a groin injury. The Phillies have struggled against both of those starters in the past, but they did tee up next likely third starter Andrew Abbott for 7 runs and 15 hits across two games and 11 innings.

So, who do you want the Phillies first postseason opponent to be? No matter who it is, the Phillies will have at least two advantages in their favor with home field and having their top starting pitchers ready for the first few games of the series.