Pirates vs. Phillies Wednesday MLB odds, props: Philly locked into playoff seed, may rest key players

On Tuesday's MLB lookahead lines, the Philadelphia Phillies opened as -225 favorites for Wednesday's home game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. However, because the Phillies clinched the top Wild Card spot in the National League on Tuesday, they are likely to rest some a key player or two and are down to -125 on the SportsLine consensus.

"They've worked, they've competed all year long," Phillies manager Rob Thomson said after Tuesday's clinching win. It was the first time the Phillies celebrated a clinch of a postseason spot at Citizens Bank Park since Sept. 18, 2011, when they won their fifth straight NL East title. "They've prepared. I told them at the start of Spring Training in our first meeting, 'If we prepare, if we compete, if we're unselfish, if we respect the game and if you can just be yourselves and have a bunch of fun, we're going to do a lot of great things.' And that's exactly who they are."

Assuming Thomson does rest the likes of Bryce Harper or Trea Turner on Wednesday, how long might he continue to do that and risk losing momentum? The Phillies have won six straight and nine of 11, and are a season-best 19 games over .500. For a point of comparison: The game after the Phils clinched a WC spot in 2022, they rolled out a hangover lineup and lost 10-0 in Houston and were no-hit for eight innings by Justin Verlander.

Philadelphia won't play a game that matters until next Tuesday when it hosts the NL's second Wild Card team. Right now that would be Arizona, but the Cubs, Marlins or Reds could all still theoretically claim the spot.

The Phillies won the regular-season series against the Diamondbacks 4-3. They won the series against the Cubs 5-1 and lost the series against the Marlins 6-7.

Last year, Philadelphia was the NL's No. 6 seed and reached the World Series before falling to the Astros.

Lefty Ranger Suarez (4-6, 3.89 ERA) is scheduled for Wednesday and in theory would pitch Game 3 of the Wild Card series if there is one. He is 2-0 this month with a 3.91 ERA and hasn't faced Pittsburgh in 2023. Suarez is set at over/under 5.5 strikeouts, 17.5 outs recorded, 4.5 hits, 1.5 walks and 1.5 earned runs for Wednesday. He is +150 to personally win.

It remains to be seen whether Phillies leadoff hitter Kyle Schwarber plays tonight as he chases history: The lowest batting average in a season by a player with at least 30 homers. That current record is .198, and Schwarber is batting .196. Recently, he became the 13th MLB player since 1920 with a 120-walk, 100-run, 100-RBI, 45-home run season.

Another team that could rest key players Wednesday is Milwaukee at home vs. St. Louis, as the Brewers wrapped up the NL Central and the No. 3 seed on Tuesday. They would host the NL's last Wild Card team next week. 

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