In the National League East, a defining stretch of schedule is in the offing as the first-place Philadelphia Phillies and second-place New York Mets begin a three-game set at Citi Field on Monday.

Going into the series, the Phillies hold a robust seven-game lead in the division, and SportsLine gives them a 94.3% chance of winning the NL East for a second straight year. The Mets, though, have a chance to whittle down that lead heading into the final weeks of the season. In addition to the three-game set that starts Monday, the Mets and Phils will also play four games in Queens from Sept. 8-11. So that's seven games in 18 days between these two divisional and blood rivals. Obviously, the Mets will need to dominate those seven head-to-headers if they're to have any hope of winning the di

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