How to watch Phillies vs. Astros series

Just three home series remain for the Phillies in the regular season, the first beginning Tuesday against the Houston Astros.

The Phillies (81-63) have 18 games left to play, and are locked in a tight race for playoff positioning. After having split a home series against Atlanta this weekend, Philadelphia is four games back in the division, with the Braves possessing the tiebreaker. The two rivals will meet for three more games at Truist Park this weekend, but the path to a division title is increasingly narrow for Philadelphia.

A more realistic aim might be for the first Wild Card, which would still give the Phillies home field advantage in the best-of-three Wild Card Series. They currently possess the top NL spot over the Cubs, but Chicago is just 0.5 game back and holds the tiebreaker. The Phillies will have to outpace them across these final 18 games in order to ensure a Wild Card Series is hosted at Citizens Bank Park, and not Wrigley Field. 

Meanwhile, the Astros (73-71) are locked in a heated playoff push of their own. After missing the playoffs last year for the first time since 2016, Houston began this season 20-31 before rallying to put themselves at thetop of an incredibly weak AL West. Though the Rangers sit just two games back in the division, the Astros’ greatest enemy might be the .500 mark. If they were to win the AL West with an 81-81 record or worse, they would officially finish as the worst division champions in MLB history, beating out the 82-80 San Diego Padres in 2005.

Nevertheless, Houston has plenty of incentive to play hard every game. Thanks to a similarly weak AL Central, the Astros are just 2.5 games back of the White Sox for the second seed in the AL, which would give them a bye to the ALDS. And while their star slugger Yordan Alvarez is the likely AL MVP, he is engaged in a much tighter battle for the Triple Crown. Entering Tuesday, he leads the league in batting average (.314), but is tied with Junior Caminero for the home run lead (38) and Pete Alonso for the RBI lead (95).    

The Phillies and Astros will play night games Tuesday and Wednesday before an afternoon finale on Thursday. The last time these teams faced each other, in June 2025 at Daikin Park, Houston swept Philadelphia in three low-scoring games. Both teams combined scored just six runs that series.

All three games this week will be broadcast locally. John Kruk will return to the broadcast booth. Here’s when and where you can watch the series on TV:

• Tuesday, September 8, at 6:40 p.m. ET: NBC Sports Philadelphia, TBS(out-of-market only)
• Wednesday, September 9, at 6:40 p.m. ET: NBC Sports Philadelphia
• Thursday, September 10, at 1:05 p.m. ET: NBC Sports Philadelphia, NBC 10