PHILADELPHIA -- When the Phillies entered the home clubhouse on Saturday afternoon, every player had a new T-shirt hanging on the back of the chair in front of their locker.
It was a powder blue shirt featuring Harrison Bader and his go-to phrase: "What a gift."
No offense to Bader, but the Phillies are hoping to find a much better gift waiting for them in the clubhouse on Sunday.
With their 8-6 win over the Royals on Saturday night at Citizens Bank Park, coupled with the Mets' 3-2 loss to the Rangers, the Phillies' magic number to clinch the National League East is down to one. That means if they either win again on Sunday or the Mets lose again, the Phils will retreat to the clubhouse postgame to find those same lockers draped in tarps in anticipation of a champagne celebration.
“It’d be huge, it really would,” said manager Rob Thomson. “I’d like to kind of get it out of the way as quick as we can, and to do it in front of our fanbase would be special.”
The gifts have just kept coming all week for the Phillies (89-60), who have won six straight games. That streak started with a four-game sweep of the rival Mets, who are now 13 games back in the NL East following their eighth straight loss.
Philadelphia's latest victory followed what's been an all-too-familiar script: Bader recorded another multihit game, Kyle Schwarber recorded another home run and the Phillies got contributions up and down the lineup.
Bader went 3-for-4 and scored a pair of runs. It was his sixth straight multihit game, the longest streak by a Phillie since 2022 (Alec Bohm).
Schwarber, meanwhile, clubbed his 51st home run of the season on a night when he reached base four times. He remains within striking distance of Ryan Howard's franchise-record 58-homer season in 2006.
But what's allowed the Phillies to essentially run away with the NL East has been the balanced attack throughout the order. Brandon Marsh stayed hot with a home run and three RBIs. Donovan Walton picked up his first hit as a Phillie. Nick Castellanos came off the bench to deliver a go-ahead sac fly. Otto Kemp continued his impressive run since rejoining the team on Monday with two more hits, including a clutch RBI double.
The Phillies have now racked up 43 runs and 61 hits during their six-game winning streak. The only other time in the last 40 years that they've reached those totals while winning six straight came in 2007.
“It seems like there’s different guys every night, and that’s a good thing to have,” Thomson said. “That’s when you kind of go on these types of runs.”
All of that has put the Phillies on the cusp of clinching the NL East in front of their home fans before embarking on a six-game road trip -- something that seemed unfathomable at the start of the week. With Philadelphia's magic number still in double-digits just five days ago, it seemed almost certain it wouldn’t happen until the club's West Coast swing that begins on Monday.
Instead, the Phils have a chance to celebrate before boarding their cross-country flight to Los Angeles on Sunday night.
"Obviously, any time you're able to clinch at home, it's huge,” said Bryce Harper. “Especially in front of our fans. Best fans in baseball, man. They've been here all year for us. It's a lot of fun playing here. ... It'd be great to be able to do it here."
The Phillies certainly have the right guy on the mound to make it happen.
Sure, Aaron Nola hasn’t had the best season so far, but he has a knack for potential clinch situations. The veteran right-hander has made five career starts on dates the Phillies either clinched a postseason berth, clinched a division title or clinched a postseason series.
That includes last Sept. 24, when Nola earned the win that secured the Phillies’ first division title since 2011.
That one also came at Citizens Bank Park.
“That'd be great. It'd be fantastic,” Schwarber said of clinching at home. “Our fans have been great all year. So if we can do it at home in front of them, let them celebrate with us as well, that would be a really cool thing for us.”