Here's How the Phillies Can Clinch a Playoff Berth on Monday

The 2022 MLB regular season is in its final days, leaving the Philadelphia Phillies with three games to lock down the National League's final wild card spot. Fortunately, the Phillies — who sit two games ahead of the Milwaukee Brewers — don't need to do much to put an end to this race.

The Phillies have an opportunity to punch in their postseason ticket when they visit the AL West-leading Houston Astros on Monday. After all, Philadelphia only needs one victory in the three-game series to reach the campaign's next stage.

Philadelphia Phillies Playoffs

The Phillies bring some much-needed momentum into the upcoming series. After losing five straight games towards the end of September, Rob Thomson's club has rebounded by winning three of its last four games against the Washington Nationals, solidifying the lead over the Brewers in the process.

Nevertheless, this series marks the first Phillies-Astros meeting since 2017 — a series that was won, 2-1, by Houston. A lot has changed since then, but one thing that hasn't is that the Astros are still one of the top teams in baseball despite any front-office controversy.

It will be interesting to see how the Phillies perform on the road, though. They're 6-14 in their last 20 road games, equating to a .300 winning percentage (tied for fifth-worst in the MLB in that span). Meanwhile, the Astros are tied for the third-best home winning percentage (.679) this season.

While clinching a playoff spot only takes one win, beating the Astros to close out the season won't be easy. Leaders like Bryce Harper, Rhys Hoskins and Kyle Schwarber must step up and deliver if the organization is to see its first postseason since 2011.

If the Phillies are successful in their playoff hunt, their +3500 odds to win the 2022 World Series rank 12th-best on FanDuel Sportsbook.

Phillies vs Astros Odds (Oct. 3)

Monday's game is shaping up to be a slightly uphill battle for Philadelphia. FanDuel Sportsbook currently favors the Astros at -122 on the moneyline over the Phillies, who sit at +104 odds.

Devon Platana is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Devon Platana also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username PepeSilvia0. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.