Giglio declares NL East race is already over: 'The Phillies have won'

After the Phillies won on Wednesday and the Braves lost to the Red Sox, the lead in the NL East grew to eight games for Philadelphia, enough for Joe Giglio to declare that the divisional race is over.

“The Phillies are not just 25 games over .500. They’re eight games up in the NL East over the Atlanta Braves,” Giglio said. “The Braves came in here and won the first two games of the season…since then, the Phillies have been 10 games better than the Braves for the better part of two months. This thing hasn’t been close.

“I understand the date…but this division is over. It’s over. The Phillies have won the National League East.”

Sure, the Braves are only three years removed from a World Series title, and two removed from overcoming a 10-game deficit to the Mets in June. But key injuries, along with the Phillies continuing to roll, has Joe convinced that a shorthanded Atlanta group cannot play nine games better then Philly the rest of the way.

“I believe the NL East division race is a wrap,” Giglio said. “I believe they’ve won it.”