NL Playoff Picture: 3 pretenders that have no chance at a World Series
By Tim Boyle
2) NL playoff picture: The Philadelphia Phillies needed everything to go right and it hasn’t
The Philadelphia Phillies are a much better team than they have been in recent years. The bullpen has gotten better. The starting rotation is actually good. This is a team that is more than dependent on the Kyle Schwarber home run every few days. There are multiple ways they can beat you.
The problem: they can’t beat the best teams all that well.
The Phillies fall into a similar category as the Brewers. When things are going right, look out! Everyone is fair game to get swept.
But when there’s even one minor issue like the absence of their star outfielder Bryce Harper, the lineup can go silent. Even with him present, we’ve seen recent Phillies clubs fail to show up to the ballpark with their bats.
If the Phillies do end up securing one of the wild card spots, the expectation would be for an elimination shortly after they begin to play games. Capable of winning a round and maybe getting lucky in the second, they’re eventually going to run into a buzzsaw they cannot get through. Will it be the Braves, the Dodgers, or the biggest pest of all for them this year, the New York Mets?
Everything had to be flawless for this year’s Phillies team to have a legitimate World Series shot. Injuries and obvious holes on the roster make it clear that they have problems.