Top 10 reasons why the Phillies will return to the World Series

After tonight's dismantling of the Braves, the two-time defending National League champions are up four in the division with 11 games to play, cutting their magic number to 8. They now have the best record in the conference, and could easily win 95 games on the year. But there are bigger reasons why they are going deep into October.

10) Roy Oswalt gives them a Cliff Lee-esuqe #3 starter, emergency left fielder, and high likelihood of avoiding a Kyle Kendrick or Joe Blanton post-season start

9) As baseball becomes less popular, it just makes sense that Philadelphia gets really good at it

8) Raul Ibanez's Faustian bargain for one last hurrah of production gives them more offense when they need it

7) The team sells out every game and leads the league in tasing, which can't make for a comfortable environment for visiting teams

6) There is a very real possibility that Roy Halladay dials it up another level in a playoff, since he's never been there

5) Right now, the other teams in the NL playoff picture are the Giants, Reds and Braves, which is to say, three teams without playoff experience or enough starting pitching

4) The Phillies have won 42 out of their last 57 games, and in many of them, they didn't have Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Shane Victorino or very good replacements for any of those players

3) Ryan Madson has a 1.21 ERA since the All-Star Break, and the other members of the short game bullpen (J.C. Romero, Jose Contreras) have also been solid

2) Brad Lidge has 24 saves, a 3.32 ERA, over a strikeout an inning, and the confidence of... well, OK, no one, but it's still nice that he's been good recently

1) As the past few years shows, manager Charlie Manuel is an unstoppable genius