They own the East | Sports Daily Newsletter

The Phillies let off some steam and sprayed some champagne Monday night after they captured the National League East championship for the first time since 2011.

There is much work to be done, but the 6-2 victory over the Cubs at Citizens Bank Park allowed the Phillies to breathe after a dud of a 2-5 road trip.

This season has had a “World Series or bust” theme since spring training, so it is good for Rob Thomson’s club to get the first step out of the way. When Carlos Estévez retired Michael Busch on a fly ball to finish off the game, the Phils began to party like only they can.

A sweep of the Cubs would secure a first-round bye in the playoffs. Every game counts toward the Phillies’ goal of finishing with the top record in the NL. Meanwhile, Austin Hays is nearing a return to the lineup and could be reactivated as soon as Tuesday.

It’s no secret that this is a team that likes to swing, but the Phillies got a little overzealous in the week before Monday. They had a strikeout rate of 30.5%, swinging at 39.2% of the pitches they saw out of the strike zone. “We’re going to expand [the strike zone] at times,” Thomson says. “Just got to rein it in.”

The Phillies have a new musical mix in the locker room to celebrate wins these days, thanks to three brothers from Northeast Philly.

More on the Phillies’ clinching night can be found here.

Next: The Phillies host the Cubs tonight at 6:40 (NBCSP).

⚾ Where the Phillies stand: At 93-64, the next step for the Phillies is earning a bye for the wild-card series. The NL’s top two teams earn byes.

— Jim Swan, @phillysport, sports.daily@inquirer.com.

If someone forwarded you this email, sign up for free here.

❓ Who should be the Phillies’ No. 3 starter behind Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola in the playoffs? Email us back for a chance to be featured in the newsletter.

It seems that the Saquon Barkley signing has more than worked out for the Eagles. He has turned into an early MVP candidate, taken over games, and shown the big-play burst by hitting 21.66 miles per hour on his 65-yard touchdown run on Sunday. With two more touchdowns against the Saints, he’s looking like a bargain.

Of course, Barkley did have the costly drop against the Falcons, and his run off a fake Tush Push went nowhere against the Saints. Nick Sirianni took responsibility for the play calls, including the latest: “Sometimes that works out,” he said. “Sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes I come back at the end of it and rethink it every single time. But in the middle of it, and as it’s happening, I’m making the best educated decision I can to help the football team win.”

Next: The Eagles visit the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday at 1 p.m. (Fox29).

Joel Embiid signed a three-year, $192.9 million contract extension with the Sixers last week that will take the All-Star center through the twilight of his career in the 2028-29 season. That the news felt so routine was evidence of the Sixers’ stability, something that was not in abundance during Embiid’s first 10 years with the team.

John Tortorella has a reputation as a tough coach who is hard on his players and doesn’t care much about people’s feelings.

But on Monday, he showed a completely different side of himself with a powerful gesture that once again showed there are more layers to the veteran coach than one might think. Tortorella recently reached out to Guy Gaudreau, the father of Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau, who both died last month after being struck and killed by an alleged drunk driver, to ask if he’d like to come out on the ice with the Flyers and help out at training camp. After some initial hesitation, Gaudreau, a longtime coach in South Jersey, accepted the offer and showed up Monday dressed most appropriately in a team-issued coaching tracksuit and sporting some of his late sons’ gear.

“He’s a coach and he’s done some great work with some of the youth out here,” Tortorella said. “I want him to be part of it. I think it will be therapeutic for him to be around us and run some drills.” Teamwork. That’s what hockey is all about.

The Flyers dropped their second preseason game to the Montreal Canadiens, 5-0, but defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen looked reliable on the blue line, playing alongside his partner from last season, Egor Zamula. Here are players who hurt and helped their stock in Monday’s loss, including Ristolainen.

Next: The Flyers host the New York Islanders for a preseason game at 7 p.m. Thursday (NBCSP).

The ninth-place Union are making a push to make the MLS playoffs, but their schedule won’t make it easy. After hosting 11th-place Atlanta this Saturday at 7:30 p.m. (Apple TV), the Union’s last three games will be against teams they won’t be favored against on paper: at fifth-place Orlando on Oct. 2, at second-place-and-reigning-champion Columbus on Oct. 5, then home against third-place FC Cincinnati on Oct. 19.

Here’s a place to access your favorite Philadelphia teams’ statistics, schedules, and standings in real time.

Who is the Phillies’ career leader in saves? First with the correct response here will be featured in the newsletter.

A) José Mesa

B) Steve Bedrosian

C) Jonathan Papelbon

D) Mitch Williams

We asked you: The Eagles gained 460 yards but struggled to score. How can they find the end zone more? Among your responses:

The coach needs to make better decisions when in field goal range. — R.E.T.

Keep feeding the ball to that fine overworked new horse in the backfield and pray he holds up. — John B.

Get a fully qualified head coach. — John O.

Might become harder to find the end zone if Johnson is out. NFL really needs to work all-out on the concussion problem. Saquon has been all we believed he would be, but Hurts has to perform much better at getting us into the end zone. He has really come through in both these last two games when it really counted, but he will have to be at his best to score more points. Getting AJ Brown back would be a major help. Kudos though for Fangio and the defense. The Saints scored 47 points against the Panthers and 44 against the Cowboy and the Eagles held them to 12 on their home turf. — Everett S.

An interesting statistic would be Jalen Hurts time holding the ball after the snap compared to other quarterbacks. The Eagles plays seem slow to develop. I believe that they need to implement some quick hit running and pass plays. — Ted W.

We compiled today’s newsletter using reporting from Olivia Reiner, EJ Smith, Jeff Neiburg, Jackie Spiegel, Scott Lauber, Alex Coffey, Jonathan Tannenwald, Lochlahn March, Ariel Simpson, Christian Red, and Declan Landis.

By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.

Thanks for reading. Kerith will be at the newsletter controls tomorrow. — Jim