Don't look now, but this morning is the second morning in a row that you can look at the NL standings and find the Phillies at the top of the pack for the entire league.
Here are this morning's NL standings, with the last column reflecting the team's last 10 games. As you can see, the Phillies have been scorching while most of the other key teams are struggling.
NATIONAL | W | L | PCT | GB | L10 |
Philadelphia | 81 | 60 | 0.574 | - | 8-2 |
San Diego | 79 | 60 | 0.568 | 1 | 3-7 |
Atlanta | 80 | 61 | 0.567 | 1 | 4-6 |
Cincinnati | 79 | 61 | 0.564 | 1.5 | 4-6 |
San Francisco | 79 | 62 | 0.560 | 2 | 7-3 |
Colorado | 76 | 64 | 0.543 | 4.5 | 7-3 |
St. Louis | 73 | 65 | 0.529 | 6.5 | 4-6 |
As I mentioned last week, this would be a rare feat for the Phillies, as they haven't finished with the best record in the NL since 1977.
It would also, combined with the NL winning the All-Star game, guarantee the Phillies home-field advantage in the playoffs, something that would probably be beneficial to a team that has been 12-5 at home in the last three post-seasons.