Marlins Inching Closer to Division, Wild Card

Note: The Cardinals lost shortly thereafter, so the lead is 2 games each for division and Wild Card.

2 games behind the Phillies for the NL East lead. 2.5 games behind the Cardinals for the Wild Card.

Yes, if the playoffs started today, the Marlins - amazing as their season has been - would fall short of playoff contention. That's okay though. They've gained some steam over the last four days, taking 3 of 4 while the teams above them struggled.

So have the teams around them. The Fish remain 3.5 games ahead of both the Braves and Mets, despite losing their last 5 of 7 to them. The only other team challenging for the Wild Card are the Brewers, who sit .5 back of the Marlins (hmmm. maybe those early 5 of 6 from Milwaukee weren't so bad, were they?)

So overall, the teams to watch are Philadelphia, St. Louis, Atlanta, NY Mets, Milwaukee in that order. And root against them whenever you can.