Now That Basketball Season is Officially Over…
By: Mike Chisdock
After approximately 16 bounces on the rim, the Sixers season is officially over. It’s time to turn our sights strictly to baseball and the Phillies. For those of you who were half paying attention to the Phils during the NBA playoffs, let’s get you caught up.
We, as Philadelphia sports fans, have a tendency to decide whether a player or team is good or bad far too early in a career or season, and this year’s Phillies are no exception. It was easy to make claims in saying they are the best team in the National League at the start of the season. But with the Phillies being about a quarter of the way through the season we can ACTUALLY start to sense how the year might go.
Sitting at 24-16 while the rest of the division struggles to play .500 ball is certainly a good spot to be in May and it looks like the team is taking form. I mean you really hate to see the Nats fall back so far in the pack just a quarter of the way through. But, back to the Phillies and teams that actually have Bryce Harper. The biggest question going into the season was the starting rotation and as always, some players disappoint, and others impress. A case can be made for either Nick Pivetta or Vince Velasquez as the most disappointing pitcher this season as Nick must regain his confidence and Vince may need to head to the bullpen. Aaron Nola, who has an ERA a full run higher this season (4.57) than in his career (3.44), appeared to be finally pitching like he did last year…and then went three innings last night. Jared Eickhoff and Zach Eflin have both pitched surprisingly incredible and the are a main reason the starting rotation is not a complete disaster.
Arguments can still be made to bring in someone like Dallas Keuchel, although I believe Cole Irvin did more than enough in his debut to warrant getting a more extensive look. The bullpen has not been awful, but it hasn’t been top tier either, and this is where it makes sense to try and sign someone like Craig Kimbrel in order to bring even more stability to the back end. We’re going to have these arguments about adding pitchers all the way until July 31st and probably beyond.
As for the lineup, the 2019 Phillies just find ways to score runs which is something the 2018 Phillies failed miserably at. Although Bryce is in a prolonged slump, Rhys Hoskins is playing like an All Star, JT Realmuto is batting .270 and Jean Segura is a hit machine. The team as a whole has been able to produce runs and that is the only thing that truly matters. Baseball is a sport of slumps and hot streaks, and every player experiences them throughout the season, what separates good teams from great teams is the ability of the collective unit to win games when individual players are struggling. It’s honestly scary this team is 8 games over .500 and no one has gotten hot at the same time yet.
With the lineup averaging over 5 runs a game and the rotation starting to come together, this Phillies team looks more than capable enough to win the division for the first team since 2011. The next 25 games are going to be a true gauge for just how good this team is as the Phils must play the Brewers, Cubs, Cardinals, Dodgers and Padres. If they hold their own during this stretch, they prove that they are legitimate National League contenders.And if they don’t, we can always just torture ourselves with Sixers free agency rumors!
The season is far from over, there are still over 100 games to be played and a lot can happen between now and September. But, if you need a serious pick me up after Sunday, it looks like the Phillies are not going anywhere anytime soon.