Philadelphia Phillies failing to take advantage of building NL East lead

While the Philadelphia Phillies remain on top of the NL East, the team has failed to take advantage of building their lead with back-to-back losses to the Cincinnati Reds.

Following Thursday’s game in which they ended up crushing seven home runs against the Cincinnati Reds, the Philadelphia Phillies entered the weekend with the intention of continuing some of that magic.

In fact, the Phillies were hoping to continue being one of the hottest teams in the MLB after winning three games in a row, but unfortunately the last two days of consisted of struggling for the most part.

Instead of Philadelphia continuing to be hot with their bats, the team has been outscored by Cincinnati 12-6 over the last two games, both of which happened to be losses.

While there’s no reason to make that big of a deal since it’s only two games, it is a little frustrating to see the Phillies miss out on increasing their lead in the NL East over the Atlanta Braves since they too have been struggling as of late.

At the moment, Philadelphia has a 2.5 game lead over their division rivals in the NL East, and when seeing how Atlanta has lost four in a row, it’s a shame to see Gabe Kapler‘s squad fail to take advantage of the situation by losing two in a row to Cincinnati.

With the Braves wrapping up a series against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday, the Phillies hope to continue receiving a little extra help from the NL West leaders. And if Philadelphia can manage to put an end to their losing streak with a win over Cincinnati as well, it would make the situation even better.

Heading into August, the Phillies have been one of the biggest surprises of the 2018 season since many expected them to be going through a year of rebuilding under Kapler’s first year as manager.

As bad as it sounds, nobody ever imagined a team like Philadelphia to be viewed as a serious playoff contender, but here they are looking to continue making a statement over the final two months.

The Phillies still have a long way to go since a lot can happen from now until the end of September, but also this is why it’s important to take advantage of situations like this one with Atlanta dealing with a losing streak of their own.

Every game is important during a 162-game season, and when seeing how tight end NL East is shaping out, Philadelphia is going to need all of the help they can get. So instead of losing games they should arguably win against teams like the Reds, here’s to hoping the Phillies can end the series on a positive note Sunday afternoon.