Getting wild

At 66-65 with 31 games to go and a half-game behind the San Diego Padres in the National League’s wild-card chase, I’m going to go out on a limb and say the Phillies will be playing baseball in October this year.

Why?

All the other teams in the race stink.

Here's the standings:

2006 National League Wild Card Standings
NATIONAL	W	L	Pct	GB	HOME	ROAD	RS	RA	STRK	L10
San Diego	67	65	.508	-	33-36	34-29	588	583	Won 1	6-4
Philadelphia	66	65	.504	.5	33-35	33-30	695	687	Won 1	7-3
Cincinnati	67	66	.504	.5	35-33	32-33	655	680	Lost 5	4-6
Florida	65	66	.496	1.5	35-30	30-36	616	615	Won 9	9-1
San Francisco	65	67	.492	2	38-31	27-36	613	609	Lost 1	6-4
Arizona	64	68	.485	3	32-34	32-34	647	666	Lost 1	3-7
Houston	64	68	.485	3	35-31	29-37	607	603	Won 4	6-4
Atlanta	62	68	.477	4	29-34	33-34	687	654	Won 3	6-4
Milwaukee	62	70	.470	5	39-26	23-44	597	680	Lost 5	4-6
Colorado	61	70	.466	5.5	34-31	27-39	598	594	Lost 1	2-8

It's very reasonable to think that 84 victories can get a team into the playoffs this year, and based on the matchups and how the teams are playing, why couldn't the Phillies go 18-13 the rest of the way.

On another note, wouldn't it be kind of neat if the Florida Marlins snuck in there? They will probably fire the manager at the end of the season and tore the team apart during the off season, so it would be neat for those young players.

Then again, the owner probably doesn't deserve it.