The last time the Philadelphia Phillies finished a regular season with 90 or more wins was in 2011 when they went 102-60 and won the N.L. East.

The Phillies did not win the division this year, but they did finish 90-72. It was a fun season, but now it’s time to finish the job because I’m sure the World Series loss still stings for most players on the team.

But Red October starts Tuesday!! And the long anticipated journey to reach the World Series again is definitely in reach.

The fourth-seeded Phillies will host to the fifth-seeded Miami Marlins in the first round of the National League Wild Card.

Game 1 of the best-of-three-game series is set for 8:08 p.m. Tuesday. Game 2 is Wednesday and Game 3 (hopefully not necessary) is Thursday, both at 8:08 p.m.

I was really hoping the Phillies would get the Arizona Diamondbacks. Even though I think the Phillies could beat both Arizona and the Marlins, the Diamondbacks would just have been better.

Why? The Phillies just struggle with Miami.

The Phillies are 40-42 against the Marlins since 2019 and have lost the season series four of the last five years, including this year. The Phillies are 6-7 against Miami, but four of those wins have been at Citizens Bank Park.

That bodes well for this series.

But drawing Miami is still not as great for the Phillies. The Marlins have a lot of left-handed pitchers, and many of the Phillies top batters are left-handed, like Kyle Schwarber, Bryson Stott and Bryce Harper.

Rob Thomson needs to make a solid lineup wild card series. The Phillies do have a good group of right-handed bats to use this series, but the lineup has to make sense defensively, as well.

The Phillies also can’t make any of these games too close. Miami is 33-13 in one-run games, including twice in its series with the Phillies last month.

What worries me the most right now is Craig Krimbel. He had not been the same lately as the start of the season. If Krimbel is the closer, which he probably will be, be better perform better and not blow any save opportunities, especially if there are one-score games.

The playoffs are different, though. It’s a whole new season. After last season, the Phillies not only have the experience but are ready for this moment. I don’t think the Phillies will dominate this series (hopefully I’m wrong) but so think they will win!

Let’s get ready for hopefully another fun October!!