No. 3 Phillies Grow NL East Lead to 7 Games

The San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers exited Petco Park in lockstep and bid the other farewell for the rest of the season. Well, at least until October. The heated National League West rivals staged six games the past two weekends and played each other to a virtual standstill,

Going into the series, the Phillies hold a robust seven-game lead in the division, and SportsLine gives them a 94.3% chance of winning the NL East for a second straight year. The Mets, though, have a chance to whittle down that lead heading into the final weeks of the season.

Among the several crucial series this week that could help decide the MLB playoff picture, arguably the biggest will take place at Citi Field, where the Philadelphia Phillies bring a commanding seven-game lead in the NL East into a three-game set against the rival New York Mets that begins on Monday night.