The Philadelphia Phillies will begin postseason play in less than two weeks.
Three games remain on the team’s regular season schedule against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park.
The Phillies won the National League East division on Monday night in a 6-2 victory over the Chicago Cubs. This was the franchise’s first division title since 2011. The Phillies have one of the most talented rosters in Major League Baseball but does the offense or the pitching staff have more at stake in the postseason?
It wasn’t a walk in the park for the Phillies to get to where they are today. Rob Thomson’s team got off to a historic start in the first half of the season and were dominating teams left and right. A teamwide month-long slump coming out of the All-Star break raised many questions and concerns about the ball club. The Phillies broke out of that slump and are looking to make some noise in the postseason for the third straight year.
Phillies Pitching Staff is the Key to a World Series Championship
The Phillies haven’t had a starting rotation as dominant as the 2024 group since the “Four Aces” in 2011. The Phillies are No. 5 in the majors with a 3.75 combined ERA by their starting pitchers. That’s including the implosion of the No. 5 starter role that has plagued the team all season. The rotation is No. 1 in baseball for complete games and shutouts, and they’re tied with the New York Yankees for No. 1 with 64 wins.
The starting rotation hasn’t been the only dominant group on the Phillies’ pitching staff. The bullpen has also had an excellent season.
The Phillies’ bullpen ERA ranks No. 15 in baseball at 3.92. They’ve allowed the eighth lowest amount of hits, runs and earned runs in their opportunities. They’re also tied for the fifth-fewest walks allowed by any team this season. The starters were able to go deep into games all season keeping the bullpen fresh accumulating the fourth-fewest innings pitched among all major league bullpens.
Out of the Phillies’ eight All-Star selections this year, five of them were pitchers. Zack Wheeler, Cristopher Sánchez and Ranger Suárez represented the team’s starting rotation while Jeff Hoffman and Matt Strahm represented the bullpen.
The offense needs to play well during the postseason to give the team a chance to win games by scoring runs, but the success of the pitching staff is far more important in making a run toward the World Series. The postseason is much tougher than the regular season. One to three runs might be all an offense can muster against some of the best pitchers in the league.
Defense wins championships and in this case, pitching wins championships.
PHOTO: ClutchPoints
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