Philadelphia Phillies need to take advantage of recent struggles by Atlanta Braves

After losing three of five games to the New York Mets, the Philadelphia Phillies missed out on another opportunity to build a potential lead in the NL East over the Atlanta Braves.

At this point in August, it’s amazing to think about how the Philadelphia Phillies are actually in the hunt for a playoff spot in the National League when looking at all of the struggles surrounding this team in previous years.

Heading into the 2018 season, the Phillies and their young talent for the most part were expected to go through at least a year of rebuilding under new manager Gabe Kapler, which obviously hasn’t been the case one bit.

Early on, Kapler showed signs of adjusting to his new role since the whole managing thing was a completely new experience. And even though there have been some questionable decision along the way, the overall impact Kapler has made continues to be amazing.

Never in a million years did anyone ever think Philadelphia would be in this kind of position to make a serious run at the playoffs, but that doesn’t mean it’s been smooth sailing the entire time. As bad as it sounds, there have been numerous occasions in which the Phillies could have taken advantage of the Atlanta Braves going through a bit of a rough period, with this past weekend being another example.

Losing two games in a row (three of five overall since Thursday) to the New York Mets of all teams was frustrating to see on Philadelphia’s end, but the frustration hits a whole new level when seeing how Atlanta has lost each of their last four games as well.

With the Phillies sitting a half-game back of their division rivals at the moment before Tuesday’s series against the Washington Nationals gets underway, this is just another prime example of another golden opportunity to build a comfortable lead over the Braves instead of trailing.

There aren’t going to be many occasions in which Atlanta goes through a losing streak like their current one when seeing the kind of season the team is having in 2018 as one of the contenders along with the Phillies in the National League.

Plus, with Washington in need of every win they can get at the moment to get back in the mix, this arguably puts even more pressure on Philadelphia heading into Tuesday since they need the wins just as much.

Not to mention, the Braves face a difficult upcoming series of their own against the Pittsburgh Steelers, meaning the Phillies could be in another great position to get back on top of the NL East standings along with building a comfortable lead if all goes well this week.