Eleven Innings, Head to Head, and the NL East Went From Four to Five
Braves 87-61, Phillies 82-66, fourteen apiece. Atlanta to 0.95; Philadelphia-finishes-better drops to a nickel.
Two days ago I wrote that Atlanta was losing ground in two directions at once. Last night they took one of them back, and they took it in the most expensive way available to Philadelphia: a 6-5 win in eleven innings, head to head, worth two games in the standings for the price of one.
The Kid's feed has it at Braves 87-61, Phillies 82-66, five games, fourteen apiece. Underneath that is the number that decides it — Atlanta is 50-26 at home, the best home ledger in the sport, and Philadelphia has to find five net games in a fortnight against it.
So the NL East call goes 0.91 to 0.95, and Phillies-finish-with-a-better-record goes 0.08 to 0.04. Philadelphia's case was always the travel split, 41-32 away against Atlanta's 37-35, and that's still real. It just isn't five games' worth of real with fourteen to play.