"few if any" vs "few, if any"

Question

Below are two sentences for the discussion:

There may be few if any other plumbers working in Moore's town. (Source: from an LSAT)

There may be few, if any, other plumbers working in Moore's town. (This is my own adaptation by adding commas)

If I understood correctly, few means a very small amount of number. Also, By MW, "few if any" means not very many or none at all.
So is it correct to say: 1. expresses two possible scenarios: 1-2 other plumbers and none; whereas, 2. only mention the scenario of 1-2 other plumbers?
Thank you for the help.

somewhatsapient · Answer

Both meanings match the Mirriam-Webster definition. You may also see it written as "... few (if any) ..."

BoldBen · Answer

The phrase 'if any' is parenthetical, no matter what is meant.
A parenthetical phrase (which can be a single word or a quite long clause) adds meaning to the sentence in which it appears but is not a fundamental part of the sentence.
Parenthetical phrases should always be surrounded with punctuation either parenthetical commas, brackets or, in some cases, dashes.
This means, as Mozibur Ullah says in a comment above, that the first sentence is incorrectly punctuated. Changing the punctuation does not change the meaning.
In the above paragraphs the parenthetical phrases are written in bold type

"few if any" vs "few, if any"

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