Roughly 50 games remain in the 2025 MLB season, leaving the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets with less than two months to battle it out in the NL East.
So far, things are still going the Phillies’ way. Rob Thomson’s club entered Tuesday with a 1 ½ game division lead over the Mets, who own the NL’s second Wild Card spot. Seven games remain between the two team: Philadelphia hosts a three-game set from Aug. 25-27, then the two meet at Citi Field from Sept. 8-11.
Cynical fans on either side (paging Barstool’s Frank the Tank) will likely suggest that the opposing team will win the NL East, though that’s just the negativity talking. Most Mets or Phillies supporters, though, are backing their squad in what remains an exciting division race.
As for baseball fans overall? It appears they’re thinking more about who won the trade deadline, and they even have a consensus victor thus far.
Baseball fans believe the Phillies had a better trade deadline than the Mets
MLB Trade Rumors published an article on Monday afternoon analyzing each NL East club’s trade deadline, though the catch came at story’s end. Readers were asked to pick one team they believed had the best deadline, and many understandably focused on the Phillies and Mets, considering their current playoff ambitions.
As of publication, nearly 48.4% of voters (almost 1,500) said the Phillies had a superior trade deadline to the Mets, who attracted roughly 37.2% (1,131) of the votes.
Jhoan Duran puts an exclamation point on Sunday Night Baseball! pic.twitter.com/nhEy5pbEez
— MLB (@MLB) August 4, 2025
To recap, here is who each team added at the trade deadline:
Phillies acquire: Minnesota Twins closer Jhoan Durán, Minnesota Twins outfielder Harrison Bader, and Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Matt Manning.
Mets acquire: St. Louis Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley, San Francisco Giants reliever Tyler Rogers, Baltimore Orioles reliever Gregory Soto, and Baltimore Orioles outfielder Cedric Mullins.
We’re not surprised that the Phillies lead the survey, especially not after adding the electrifying Durán to their bullpen. But by no means are we saying that the Mets had a bad deadline; Helsley and Rogers have had exceptional seasons, and Mullins is a former All-Star and impressive defender.
What is surprising, though, is how many people voted for the Phillies. Does part of that involve Durán and how frequently fans heard his name in online trade proposals and suggestions before the deadline? Is it because Rogers and Soto are relatively unknown, at least compared to Durán or Bader?
Barring a complete disaster, both of those teams should make the postseason. In fact, they could even square off in the NL Wild Card round depending on how the playoff seeding turns out. But it certainly sounds like most baseball fans expect the Philies to host those games via their second straight division crown.
Besides, both teams should be grateful that they’re not the Yankees, who lost their fourth straight on Monday following reliever Jake Bird’s latest poor outing.