Projected Phillies playoff rotation and lineup for the Wild Card series

The Philadelphia Phillies scuttled their way to the finish line, but now that a Wild Card berth has been clinched, there's still a path deep into October. It starts with the rotation, which ranks among the deepest and most formidable in MLB. The recent injury to Jesús Luzardo, arguably Philadelphia's hottest and most dominant arm, certainly was not ideal. But the Phillies can still out-pitch their opponent on any given night.

Can they score enough? That remains the real question. On paper at least, though, this team has what it needs to make a real run. Here's how their rotation and lineup stacks up with October in sight.

Phillies projected playoff rotation

There's a strong chance the Phillies simply shrink their rotation to three, assuming Luzardo is either unavailable or relegated to bullpen duties after a recent shoulder injury. That said, the top two is still as strong as any duo in the Majors; Zack Wheeler has not skipped a beat upon returning from thoracic outlet syndrome this season, while Cristopher Sánchez figures to finish top-three in NL Cy Young voting.

Aaron Nola, meanwhile, has engineered a remarkable turnaround since the All-Star break — with rookie Andrew Painter making similar, if less spectacular or trustworthy, strides. The Phillies certainly boast better pitching setups than Chicago, San Diego or even Atlanta in the National League group of six, although it might not matter if the lineup can't carry its weight. That, as ever, remains a very real concern.

Projected playoff bullpen

Your guess is as good as mine here. Assuming Philly carries 12 pitchers in all for a three-game Wild Card series, about the only ones I feel sure of are Jhoan Duran, Alex McFarlane, Jonathan Bowlan and Alvarado — and the latter isn't even based on performance but rather reputation. Raley and Mayza make the cut because this team needs to find a lefty option it can rely on, while Urquidy has been solid of late and can go multiple innings.

Phillies projected playoff lineup

This has been a thorn in Philly's side in recent weeks — heck, all year really — and it took another hit when Luis Arraez went down with an ankle sprain this week. Assuming Arraez can't go in the Wild Card Round, here's how the starting nine figures to stack up.

The Phillies have kept Bryce Harper in right field even with Arraez sidelined, maybe because they just don't want to disrupt the rhythm they found with shifting Alec Bohm to first and Bryson Stott to third. We'll stick with that rough alignment here, sliding Edmundo Sosa into Arraez's vacated spot in the lineup.

Projected playoff bench

Arraez has yet to be put on the IL, and we'll give him a roster spot here until we hear otherwise. At worst, he can maybe be used as a pinch-hitter in certain spots with a pinch-runner quickly to follow. Stubbs gets the nod over Rafael Marchan for the backup catcher spot, and Hill and De La Cruz are the other two bench bats almost by default — this is a very, very thin team right now.

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