Castellanos homers as the Phillies beat the Cubs 9-6 and clinch first-round bye in playoffs

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Nick Castellanos, Trea Turner and Kody Clemens homered, and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Chicago Cubs 9-6 on Wednesday night and clinched a first-round bye in the playoffs.

Castellanos had three hits and scored three times. Bryson Stott also had three hits and Brandon Marsh drove in three runs for the Phillies, who claimed their first NL East title in 13 years on Monday night.

Coupled with Milwaukee’s 2-1 loss to Pittsburgh, Philadelphia secured the bye and home-field advantage in the NLDS. The Phillies owned the tiebreaker with the Brewers after winning the season series against the NL Central champions.

Philadelphia will host Game 1 of the NLDS on Oct. 5.

“We just have to take it one step at a time and take care of business,” Marsh said. “There's nothing like it. This is why we show up. This is the stuff we dream about.”

Nico Hoerner homered twice for Chicago, and Isaac Paredes hit four singles. The Cubs lost two of three in the series to finish with a 39-42 road record.

Philadelphia closed out the home portion of its regular season with a 54-27 mark, though one of the home games was a loss to the Mets in London. A crowd of 42,438 was on hand for the 47th sellout of the season, running the home attendance at Citizens Bank Park to 3,308,638 on the year.

The Phillies finish with three games at Washington, beginning on Friday. Philadelphia can clinch home-field advantage through the NL Championship Series by ending the season tied with or ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Manager Rob Thomson said he will sub some of the regulars in the final three contests.

“I think it's huge to get these guys some rest,” he said.

Turner put Philadelphia in front with a one-out solo shot in the first. Stott added a two-run double against Javier Assad (7-6), lifting the Phillies to an early 3-0 lead.

Castellanos added another solo shot in the third, but Hoerner responded with a three-run shot off Cristopher Sánchez in the fourth.

Marsh gave Philadelphia an 8-4 lead with a three-run double off Keegan Thompson in the fifth. All three runs were charged to Assad, who surrendered eight hits in 4 1/3 innings.

“We got into a jam in the fifth, and they got a big hit,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said.

Sánchez was charged with four runs, three earned, and five hits in 4 2/3 innings. José Ruiz (5-1) got four outs for the win.

Kevin Alcántara, one of Chicago's top prospects, started in right field and singled in the ninth for his first major league hit.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cubs: 1B Michael Busch (right triceps contusion) was not in the lineup, one night after being hit by a pitch in the second. ... OF Seiya Suzuki (ankle) also was sidelined after getting injured running the bases on Tuesday night.

Phillies: Austin Hays started in left field for the second straight day after returning Monday from a stint on the injured list since Sept. 1 due to a kidney infection. He went 0 for 4 with a strikeout.

UP NEXT

Cubs: Following an off day, RHP Jameson Taillon (11-8, 3.41 ERA) starts on Friday against Cincinnati in the opener of a three-game home series.

Phillies: LHP Ranger Suárez (12-7, 3.15 ERA) starts on Friday against the Nationals.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

A fan cheers for Philadelphia Phillies' Bryce Harper during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Chicago Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong cannot reach a home run by Philadelphia Phillies' Kody Clemens during the fourth inning of a baseball game, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Chicago Cubs' Kevin Alcantara hits a single against Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Carlos Estévez during the ninth inning of a baseball game, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Philadelphia Phillies' Brandon Marsh follows through after hitting a three-run double against Chicago Cubs pitcher Keegan Thompson during the fifth inning of a baseball game, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Philadelphia Phillies' Brandon Marsh, right, and Trea Turner celebrate after the Phillies won a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Philadelphia Phillies' Brandon Marsh, right, is doused by Bryson Stott after the Phillies won a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Carlos Estévez reacts after the Phillies won a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

NEW YORK (AP) — Reviving a campaign pledge, President Donald Trump wants a one-year, 10% cap on credit card interest rates, a move that could save Americans tens of billions of dollars but drew immediate opposition from an industry that has been in his corner.

Trump was not clear in his social media post Friday night whether a cap might take effect through executive action or legislation, though one Republican senator said he had spoken with the president and would work on a bill with his “full support.” Trump said he hoped it would be in place Jan. 20, one year after he took office.

Strong opposition is certain from Wall Street in addition to the credit card companies, which donated heavily to his 2024 campaign and have supported Trump's second-term agenda. Banks are making the argument that such a plan would most hurt poor people, at a time of economic concern, by curtailing or eliminating credit lines, driving them to high-cost alternatives like payday loans or pawnshops.

“We will no longer let the American Public be ripped off by Credit Card Companies that are charging Interest Rates of 20 to 30%,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

Researchers who studied Trump’s campaign pledge after it was first announced found that Americans would save roughly $100 billion in interest a year if credit card rates were capped at 10%. The same researchers found that while the credit card industry would take a major hit, it would still be profitable, although credit card rewards and other perks might be scaled back.

About 195 million people in the United States had credit cards in 2024 and were assessed $160 billion in interest charges, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says. Americans are now carrying more credit card debt than ever, to the tune of about $1.23 trillion, according to figures from the New York Federal Reserve for the third quarter last year.

Further, Americans are paying, on average, between 19.65% and 21.5% in interest on credit cards according to the Federal Reserve and other industry tracking sources. That has come down in the past year as the central bank lowered benchmark rates, but is near the highs since federal regulators started tracking credit card rates in the mid-1990s. That’s significantly higher than a decade ago, when the average credit card interest rate was roughly 12%.

The Republican administration has proved particularly friendly until now to the credit card industry.

Capital One got little resistance from the White House when it finalized its purchase and merger with Discover Financial in early 2025, a deal that created the nation’s largest credit card company. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which is largely tasked with going after credit card companies for alleged wrongdoing, has been largely nonfunctional since Trump took office.

In a joint statement, the banking industry was opposed to Trump's proposal.

“If enacted, this cap would only drive consumers toward less regulated, more costly alternatives," the American Bankers Association and allied groups said.

Bank lobbyists have long argued that lowering interest rates on their credit card products would require the banks to lend less to high-risk borrowers. When Congress enacted a cap on the fee that stores pay large banks when customers use a debit card, banks responded by removing all rewards and perks from those cards. Debit card rewards only recently have trickled back into consumers' hands. For example, United Airlines now has a debit card that gives miles with purchases.

The U.S. already places interest rate caps on some financial products and for some demographics. The Military Lending Act makes it illegal to charge active-duty service members more than 36% for any financial product. The national regulator for credit unions has capped interest rates on credit union credit cards at 18%.

Credit card companies earn three streams of revenue from their products: fees charged to merchants, fees charged to customers and the interest charged on balances. The argument from some researchers and left-leaning policymakers is that the banks earn enough revenue from merchants to keep them profitable if interest rates were capped.

"A 10% credit card interest cap would save Americans $100 billion a year without causing massive account closures, as banks claim. That’s because the few large banks that dominate the credit card market are making absolutely massive profits on customers at all income levels," said Brian Shearer, director of competition and regulatory policy at the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator, who wrote the research on the industry's impact of Trump's proposal last year.

There are some historic examples that interest rate caps do cut off the less creditworthy to financial products because banks are not able to price risk correctly. Arkansas has a strictly enforced interest rate cap of 17% and evidence points to the poor and less creditworthy being cut out of consumer credit markets in the state. Shearer's research showed that an interest rate cap of 10% would likely result in banks lending less to those with credit scores below 600.

The White House did not respond to questions about how the president seeks to cap the rate or whether he has spoken with credit card companies about the idea.

Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., who said he talked with Trump on Friday night, said the effort is meant to “lower costs for American families and to reign in greedy credit card companies who have been ripping off hardworking Americans for too long."

Legislation in both the House and the Senate would do what Trump is seeking.

Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., released a plan in February that would immediately cap interest rates at 10% for five years, hoping to use Trump’s campaign promise to build momentum for their measure.

Hours before Trump's post, Sanders said that the president, rather than working to cap interest rates, had taken steps to deregulate big banks that allowed them to charge much higher credit card fees.

Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., have proposed similar legislation. Ocasio-Cortez is a frequent political target of Trump, while Luna is a close ally of the president.

Seung Min Kim reported from West Palm Beach, Fla.

President Donald Trump arrives on Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport, Friday, Jan. 9, 2025, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

FILE - Visa and Mastercard credit cards are shown in Buffalo Grove, Ill., Feb. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)