Phillies choose drawn-out, Big Three-friendly NLDS schedule

By virtue of finishing with the National League’s top record the Phillies got to choose between a seven-day or eight-day schedule for the NLDS, and as expected they picked the drawn-out version that allows them to rely exclusively on the trio of Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt, and Cole Hamels in the five-game series. They’ll open the playoffs next Wednesday in Philadelphia, but then have Thursday off while the other three division series play that day. The extra off day allows them to skip fourth starter Joe Blanton, and helps set them up to potentially lean on The Big Three to start 17 of 19 postseason games overall.