The Phillies have their sights on the Postseason

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After the end of this past April, if anyone in the baseball world mentioned the Philadelphia Phillies and the playoffs in the same sentence, people would think that they were crazy or living in an alternate baseball universe.  Under the leadership of now-fired manager Joe Girardi, the Phils sat at 22-29 early in the 2022 campaign and the entire team looked and played like a team with a cloud of doom following them.  Girardi was fired, bench coach Rob Thomson took over the helm and the Phillies are now sitting at 60-48 and fully in the NL wild card race.

Do the Phillies have what it takes to make it to the postseason in 2022?

On the surface, things in Philly looked to be doomed early on as injuries to both Bryce Harper and Jean Segura seemed to be symbolic of a team in trouble.  However, the Phillies have been on a tear since the All-Star break and this past weekend in a series with the Washington Nationals, the Phillies bats really woke up – I mean really woke up.  The Fighting Phils blasted out 14 homers in the home series against the helpless Nats and set a franchise record for the most dingers in a single series.  Mind you, the Phillies history goes back to 1883 so setting a home run record for a single series says a lot for the offensive fireworks display the Phillies put on this past weekend.

Another key to the Phillies recent success is the resurgence of pitcher Aaron Nola.  Nola has found his “groove” and mixing up pitches with an increased sinker usage lately.  The results: Nola now has a 3.25 ERA and is tied for second in the NL with innings pitched this season (138 2/3 so far.)  The increased sinker usage has allowed Nola to drastically drop his ground ball rate (now down to 40.8 %) and keep his pitches better inside the strike zone, resulting in more strike calls.  Less hitter contact and more strikes is a usual indication of a pitcher’s dominance and Aaron Nola is making his mark on the Phillies starting rotation here in the season stretch.

A final improvement that has been paying dividends for the Phillies is the increased defensive performance by third baseman Alec Bohm.  The Phillies entered this season ranked 24^th in total defense and were already suspect on the defensive side of play.  Losing both Harper and Segura forced the daily play of sluggers Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos-both of whom are known for their bats and not their defense.  Earlier in the season, Alec Bohm had a career meltdown early on in the season with a three-error game and ended up in May as the weakest infield defender in May in all of Major League Baseball.  Bohm has calmed down at the hot corner and in the month of July was the Phillies hottest bat (1.088 OPS) and has become one of the reasons for the Phillies hot streak which may take them into the playoffs come October.