The Phillies came into October with a rotation built to carry them. Jesús Luzardo, Zack Wheeler, Cristopher Sánchez and Aaron Nola - coming off an elite second half - give Philadelphia the kind of starting pitching teams dream about this time of year.
But the problem has never been the arms. It’s been the bats, and Game 1 of the Wild Card series against the Braves put that reality on display again.
Philadelphia’s offense spent the regular season buried near the bottom of the league, finishing 22nd in OPS and 28th in wRC+. September was even worse.
The Phillies posted a .660 OPS and a 90 wRC+, both bottom-three marks in MLB. By the time they rolled out their Game 1 lineup, the warning signs were already flashing everywhere.
Trea Turner was supposed to be the headliner when the Phillies gave him an 11-year, $300 million deal. Instead, this season became the worst of his time in Philadelphia. He hit .242 with a .675 OPS and an 83 wRC+, then went hitless Tuesday and was picked off the only time he reached base.
Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper still anchor the middle of the order in the two and three spots, and those are the names Philadelphia can trust. The trouble starts after that.
Alec Bohm, even after delivering a big hit Tuesday, has repeatedly shown he’s not the cleanup answer the Phillies need. He finished the season at .249 with a .698 OPS, though he did look better after the All-Star break, hitting .298 with a .794 OPS.
Then came a middle of the lineup that looked more like a patchwork than a playoff order. Derek Hill has been phenomenal since arriving after the injury to Adolis Garcia, hitting .261 with a .783 OPS in 67 games with Philadelphia.
He’s handled his platoon role well. But with a .652 career OPS, he doesn’t exactly profile as a middle-of-the-order playoff bat.
Bryan De La Cruz followed, and his resume was thin for a spot that important. He appeared in just 34 regular-season MLB games this year, gave the Phillies a boost when he first arrived, then hit only .200 with a .581 OPS in September.
That left Philadelphia with two hitters in the heart of the order who, at their best, look more like bench pieces than everyday playoff threats. It was another reminder of how little has been done to fix an offense that has been slipping for years.
Bryson Stott, batting seventh, was one of the few hitters who helped turn things around from June through August. But September brought him back down. He hit .237 with a .692 OPS in the final month.
Edmundo Sosa, in the eight spot, has quietly been one of the Phillies’ more dependable bats lately. He’s taking Luis Arraez’s spot in the lineup, but sliding over to the hot corner. Sosa put up a 1.329 OPS in August and a .927 OPS in September.
JT Realmuto, who came through with a huge hit in Game 1, has still been one of baseball’s weakest hitters since the All-Star festivities in Philadelphia. In the second half, he posted a 60 wRC+, ninth-worst in the league, while hitting .204 with a .588 OPS.
The bigger picture hasn’t changed. The Phillies entered the season with an offense that already looked thin, and once October arrived, that same weakness showed up again. Their lineup has vanished in the postseason for three straight seasons, and Dave Dombrowski has done virtually nothing to change that.
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Phillies Send Clear Message With Season On The Line In Game 2
After dropping Game 1 of their NLWC matchup with the Braves, the Phillies answered with a set of lineup changes that signaled how seriously they were treating Game 2. Brandon Marsh and Justin Crawford moved into the outfield, and Bryson Stott was bumped into the cleanup spot as Philadelphia tried to shake up the look of an offense that was held to three runs in the opener.
Cristopher Sanchez was lined up to start on the mound, giving the Phillies a chance to reset with a different shape on both sides of the ball. With their season hanging in the balance, the adjustments were the kind that suggest a club looking for urgency, not comfort, and they set up Game 2 as more than just a response game. [Read more 🡒]
Phillies Suddenly Face An Infield Problem If They Reach Game 3
Edmundo Sosas night changed in a hurry during Game 2 of the Wild Card Round, when the Phillies infielder was hurt after hustling down the line to first base. Philadelphia immediately went to Derek Hill as a pinch runner and then had to shuffle its defense around from there, a reminder of how quickly October can turn a clean game plan into a patchwork one.
For a club that may still need to get through a decisive Game 3, the timing could not be much worse. Sosas availability now hangs over the roster picture, and if he cannot go, the Phillies would have to sort out another infield arrangement on short notice while trying to keep the rest of the lineup intact. [Read more 🡒]
Braves Open With A Phillies Problem That Could Shape This Series
The wild-card round opens Tuesday with a familiar and unforgiving setup for Philadelphia, and the Phillies are front and center in one of the most intriguing matchups on the board against Atlanta. The series arrives as part of a busy postseason night across sports, with the White Sox visiting the Astros, the Red Sox taking on the Yankees, and the Cubs meeting the Padres, while hockey and the WNBA are also rolling into key spots on the calendar.
For the Phillies, though, the focus stays on a Braves club that has spent enough time around this roster to know where the pressure points can be. With both sides entering a short series where every decision matters, the early tone could be shaped by how Philadelphia handles Atlantas biggest threat right away, making the opener feel less like a first game and more like the pivot point for everything that follows. [Read more 🡒]