Who do Phillies want: Braves or Cardinals
by Scott Butler 9/26/11

The Phillies are in a position to decide if they want to play the Cardinals in the first round. Sweep the Braves and the Phillies probably play the Cardinals in the first round. Get swept and the Cardinals are eliminated no matter what and the Phillies will play Milwaukee or Arizona in the NLDS.

It’s not a hard decision. The Phillies DO NOT want to play the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLDS. The Cards are 14-4 in their last 18 games with momentum on their side versus a Phillies team with 1 win in their last 9 tries. The Braves lost two of their starters and are in a “Metsian” collapse.

And the Phillies have performed better across the board against the Braves. Here’s how the Phillies matchup against the two teams.

	vs. Braves	vs. Cardinals
Record	9-6	3-6
Runs/Game	3.56	4.46
ERA against	2.73	3.81

The obvious choice is to tank all three games and avoid St. Louis altogether. Baseball has seen the hot team beat the better team often enough, and the Phillies are staler than month old Amoroso rolls right now. But losing games is a dangerous game to play.

The fact is, the Phillies need their swagger back and the best way to find it is by winning. The Phils are by far the best team in the league and it shouldn’t matter who they play. Besides, the Brewers and D-Backs are good teams and it’s not like they are ice cold.

Win three, get the best record in team history, stomp on the Cardinals, and move on to the next round.


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Who do Phillies want: Braves or Cardinals by Scott Butler 9/26/11

Who do Phillies want: Braves or Cardinals
by Scott Butler 9/26/11