When it's Aug. 13 and you're heavily involved in both the division and wild-card races, every game left is huge. There is no one game — aside from the head-to-head Braves matchups — among the Phillies' remaining 45 that carries more importance than another.
But looking at the upcoming schedule, if the Phils don't survive these next 19, those late-September games against the Braves might not end up meaning a ton.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the Phillies host the Red Sox, who are a ludicrous 50 games over .500 at 85-35. Tuesday, the Phils will face former AL Cy Young winner Rick Porcello.
Following the Red Sox is a five-game home series against the Mets, which includes a doubleheader Thursday. The Mets are terrible, but Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard are not. On Friday, the Phils face Syndergaard. On Saturday, they face deGrom, who's had the lowest ERA in baseball most of the season.
It gets no easier from there, with a road series against the Nationals. In the final game of the Nats series, the Phils will face Max Scherzer. Five days later, they'll face Scherzer again.
Washington's offense is rounding into form and the Nats could be a very dangerous team down the stretch after months of underperformance.
Bryce Harper has hit .343/.464/.657 with six doubles and five homers over his last 20 games.
MLB
Daniel Murphy is finally all the way back from offseason microfracture surgery. In his last 15 games, he's hit .411 with a 1.111 OPS.
Ryan Zimmerman is also finally healthy. He's hit .386/.462/.795 with 10 extra-base hits and 18 RBI over his last 13 games.
The tough stretch ends Aug. 31-Sept. 2 with a three-game series against the Cubs, who have the best record in the NL.
After that is a respite on the road against the Marlins and Mets.
The Braves' upcoming schedule is a bit softer, but they do have 30 games in the next 30 days because of so many early postponements. These are the dog days and it's worth keeping an eye on how young pitchers like Mike Foltynewicz and Sean Newcomb hold up late in a pressure-packed season.
Newcomb has a 5.06 ERA in his last eight starts. Foltynewicz has a 5.40 ERA with eight home runs allowed over his last six.