3 reasons Philadelphia Phillies can upset the Braves in the NLDS

No. 2 reason Phillies can upset Braves in NLDS: Power surge

The Braves tied the MLB record for most home runs in a season and set the record for highest team slugging percentage. That won't necessarily stop the Phillies from beating them at their own game with a significant, well-timed power surge.

Philadelphia started the season on extremely uneven footing at the plate, but a second-half surge saw Rob Thomson's group emerge as one of the preeminent power threats in baseball. Once Bryce Harper was back in business, Kyle Schwarber regained his prior form, and Trea Turner remembered how to hit? Curtains. The Phillies ended the season No. 8 in the MLB with 220 home runs collectively.

The Phillies have become synonymous with clutch home runs, the most recent example being Bryson Stott's majestic game-sealing grand slam in Wednesday's victory over Miami. Philly's lineup is precisely balanced, with a solid mix of dinger potential and contact-forward hitting. All it takes to swing a game in Philadelphia's favor is a classic 'Schwarbomb' or a vintage Harper skyscraper.

Not unlike the Braves, you essentially have to operate with some level of concern 1-7 in the Phillies lineup. No team outside Atlanta has come up with more clutch bombs, more improbable victories by way of home run, than the Phillies. Add in the emotions of the current group and the energy surging within the fanbase, and it's not difficult to imagine Atlanta on the wrong end of a Phillies home run parade.

That becomes even easier to imagine when one considers our next point...