WASHINGTON -- Now that a playoff berth has been secured, the Nationals will walk a delicate line until the end of the regular season. Just to get to this point required a mad dash to overcome a sluggish start -- the Nationals’ starting pitchers routinely carried a heavy workload, and more than a few position players went months without a day off.

So, Washington will be looking to give some of its regulars a breather with the reality that home-field advantage in the National League Wild Card game is still up for grabs. That puts the pressure on the Nats to win as often as possible to ensure that winner-take-all game is played at Nationals Park on Tuesday night.

“I still want to play these games to win,” manager Dave Martinez said prior to the Nats’ 5-2 victory over the Phillies on Wednesday night at Nationals Park. “But we’ve got to be smart about getting guys some days off.”

• Box score

For the first time since the middle of May, when they both spent time on the injured list, Anthony Rendon and Trea Turner weren’t in the lineup. And the Nationals won again, anyway, to keep pace with the Brewers in the fight for the top Wild Card spot. Washington remains one game ahead of Milwaukee, which clinched its postseason spot Wednesday. The Nats have a chance to pull off a rare five-game sweep over the Phillies with a win Thursday.

Although the red-hot Brewers appear to be the Nationals’ most likely opponent for the Wild Card game, they still remain alive in the NL Central, trailing the Cardinals by 1 1/2 games. But take the advice from one Nats player who experienced playing at Miller Park in the postseason last October, the Nationals would prefer to avoid playing a road game with their season on the line.

“It's the most electric stadium I've ever been a part of my whole career,” said second baseman Brian Dozier, who was a member of the Dodgers during the National League Championship Series last year against the Brewers. “When you pack that stadium, it was electric and it gets so loud. I think just the fact of us trying to stay here and not -- I’m not saying we can't win there by any means -- but I think it's important we try to stay here, for sure.”

Aníbal Sánchez posted another strong start in what is likely his final outing of the regular season Wednesday-- seven innings of two-run ball with seven strikeouts. Wilmer Difo’s RBI single in the seventh inning drove in the go-ahead run, and Dozier’s solo homer in the eighth helped provide some insurance. Sean Doolittle struck out three batters in the ninth inning to lock down his first save since Aug. 16, the best he has looked since returning from the injured list earlier this month. 

The Nationals won without the starting left side of their infield, a duo they counted on heavily to reach this point. Rendon had started every game since May 7, after he came off the injured list with a bruised elbow, a streak of 123 consecutive starts. Turner nearly matched that streak, starting 114 games in a row since May 17, even though he never really recovered after breaking his right index finger.

“For the situation of the team right now, it's not hard,” Sánchez said of coming back with a win after clinching. “I think everybody needed to keep focus on the game. We made the Wild Card game, but at the end, we want to play here, too. We need to keep focus and win some games.”

Several times during the past few months, Martinez would say he asked Turner and Rendon whether they need a breather and both players were adamant they wanted to play. And it’s not as if their production suffered, Rendon entered himself into the MVP race with his play in the second half, and Turner has been excellent at the top of the lineup, including big hits like his go-ahead grand slam to help the Nats clinch Tuesday. 

But Martinez joked that he did not receive much pushback Wednesday. More players will likely get days off in the next few days, especially Juan Soto, who has missed only one game since he rolled his right ankle Aug. 11. Soto is expected to receive a breather over the weekend. And the Nats will try to keep rising to the challenge of perhaps easing their foot off the gas into the playoffs while also trying to ensure there’s at least one more game at Nationals Park. 

“We've still got work to do,” Dozier said. “We partied last night, a big win coming off of that, but we've got a few more that we've got to take care of.”