2024 Phillies Season Discussion

[zambonir]

Joe Sheehan:

They’re probably not a .700 team, of course. By Pythag, they’re 32-16, and by third-order record 29-19. The Phillies have played the weakest schedule in baseball, not by a little bit, and they’re 10-4 in one-run games against that slate. The Phillies have one (1) win against a team currently above .500, and that happened on the fourth day of the season. Since April began, the Eagles have as many wins against over-.500 teams as the Phillies do. None of this is the Phillies’ fault, it just puts that 34-14 mark into context.

As I've said before I just dont find it that worrisome. They are going to fall off this pedestal but the lowest landing point is still probably a lot higher than last year's record. Maybe .600 baseball overall won't win the division (that would be 97 wins) but .500 baseball probably still locks the top wild card. It's gonna fun to find out.

[Docs]

When all you do is win, all your opponents do is lose, so naturally their opponents strength of schedule looks tougher because they got steam rolled by the Phillies. The Phillies strength of schedule would be somewhat inflated if they had lost more games. Since the Phillies cannot be on their own schedule, it’s impossible for them to have the toughest schedule. I predict 140 wins.

[Jazzhead]

Should be a good test against the World Champion Rangers tonight. Mrs. Jazz and I will be celebrating our anniversary with 40,000 phriends and, hopefully, a Phils win.

[allentown]

Should be a good test against the World Champion Rangers tonight. Mrs. Jazz and I will be celebrating our anniversary with 40,000 phriends and, hopefully, a Phils win.

Enjoy your anniversary.

[zambonir]

Finally, a chance to play another .500 team! Rangers are also 13-15 over their last 28. Garcia is also possibly hurt, that would be a break. And they are missing Lorenzen who gave up two runs in 6 1/3 in a 4-1 loss to the Angels Sunday. Gotta keep the pedal down.

[andyb]

Good pitching matchup tonight in Jon Gray vs Ranger.

[Patchmk88]

Happy Anniversary

[phillychuck]

Going into today, the weighted average winning percentage of the Phillies opponents is .429. The average for these opponents against the rest of the league (meaning excluding their games against the Phils) is .440. They're still bad even when they aren't playing the Phillies.

Besides the Braves and Padres, the only Phillies opponent that has a winning record against the rest of the league is the Giants. (Of course, the Phillies are 7-0 against the Padres and Giants.)

Good info, Boston! The Braves, Dodgers, and Phillies being so good is depressing all opponents' records other than those teams and maybe the Brewers and Cubs, who are also pretty good... Most of our NL games have been against those other teams. And we got to play the White Sox, too...

[zambonir]

The Braves have certainly been here before - worse, even. They were under .500 until June 4 of 2022, with the Mets seemingly poised to run away with the division and the Phillies a non-factor. Instead the Braves turned it around and took the division at the last minute with both teams winning 101 games (while of course the Phillies made it in at almost the last minute with 87)

This year the Phillies would be the Mets, worst-case. Up five in the division but a very robust ten in the wild card.

[bkox]

Philles’ Bryce Harper helped NJ high school student land prom date

[bkox]

Unfortunately, that win against the reigning World Series Champions doesn't count because the Phillies just sent their record under the .500 mark.

— Alex Carr ( @AlexCarrMLB ) May 22, 2024

[zambonir]

Amazing

[MichaelJackSchmidt]

It's silly to find ways to determine how good the Phillies really are. The Phillies beating their opponents is all that matters.

[zambonir]

Look at it this way. The Phillies have 43 games remaining against teams that entered Tuesday more than one game above .500. That’s 40 more than they’ve played thus far this season. They also have 71 games left against other teams. If they beat those other teams at a 70% clip, they can go 17-26 against the “good” teams and still get to 100 wins.

It is a double-edged sword. The Phillies happen to have a back-loaded schedule. To get where they want to go, they needed to do what they are doing. That they have done it to this degree is an accomplishment in itself. It is what the greatest of teams do. They make the schedule irrelevant.

On the paradox of modern sports schedules, and the Phillies’ future outlook

[xogfog]

All it took was getting to 23 games over .500 in May to land the # 1 spot on the ESPN MLB Power Rankngs.

[Callison]

If not for Turner's injury, MLB might never have known how good Edmundo Sosa is. Sure, he's always been a solid IF, but in his part time role, his hitting was about a disappointing .250 with a HR now and then. It looked like he could be easily replaced by lots of .260 hitters. But then he started playing everyday, now hitting some .325 with power. And it looks like his D has gotten even better. Playah. Maybe the Phils' scouts know something after all.

[bkox]

The Phillies have lost 4 games the last 4 weeks — twice in extra innings — by 1, 1, 1 and 2 runs.

They’re +90 in the other games.

— Corey Seidman ( @CSeidmanNBCS ) May 23, 2024

[RTaylor]

I'm trying to find some parallel to all this in my Phillie-following experience (since 1964). The 1976 team had a veteran pitching staff, a lineup (including the Dick Allen reunion) pounding teams like this club has so far. They better take the DNA of this team, synthesize whatever it is, and bottle it for future use.

[Jazzhead]

In addition to the five big money guys, three young Phils - Bohm, Stott and Marsh - are entering their primes at the same time. That's the happy circumstance, I think, that has spurred the Phils' to their great leap forward. That, plus the renewed emphasis on defense, with improvements at three or more positions. a deep and versatile bench, and the best starting staff in the game.

And the phans are jamming the rafters even at day games. I hear folks say that the season's too long; let's get to the playoffs. Not me. Just don't wake me up yet, I don't want it to end.

[Philsmania]

This season has certainly been charmed. Yes, their schedule has been ridiculously weak. But, you can also say that they've taken care of business and not played down to the level of the opposition and they deserve credit for that.