The Philadelphia Phillies came into this offseason looking to add another star to their lineup.
Over a long 162-game season, usually, the teams with the best players will separate themselves.
There have been tons of player movement this offseason and a few contending teams got much better.
MLB.com released their top 10 lineups for the 2023 season.
With the Phillies ranked eighth.
These teams can rake! 💪 pic.twitter.com/XIKiZIa5hU
— MLB (@MLB) January 12, 2023
This is an interesting list as the Phillies are fifth in the National League.
For a lineup that made the World Series and then added Trea Turner, it seems a little disrespectful.
Looking at who the Phillies should be ahead of on this list, the Toronto Blue Jays are one.
Toronto only has two clear positional advantages over the Phillies.
That is at first base with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and right field with George Springer.
Bryce Harper will once again have to DH all season so Nick Castellanos will be the primary right fielder.
Two other teams the Phillies should be ahead of are the St. Louis Cardinals and New York Mets.
St. Louis has two of the top three MVP candidates from this past season, also they added Willson Contreras.
But, they rely on too many young players to be productive once again.
The likes of Lars Nootbaar, Brendan Donovan, Juan Yepez, and Dylan Carlson all should be solid contributors but are not proven.
The Phillies have Kyle Schwarber, Rhys Hoskins, and Nick Castellanos, all of whom have played at All-Star caliber levels.
When it comes to the Mets, they are entering 2023 will almost the same lineup as last year.
It is a good lineup, but not better than the Phillies.
Turner pushes the Phillies over the top due to being another top-of-the-order elite bat.
It will be interesting to see how good their lineup can be this season as it is one of the best on paper in recent years.
NEXT: Phillies Not Predicted To Have Much Success Over Next 10 Seasons
BadgerW4 says
You’re not objective. The Phillies lineup, one for one, is not better than the Mets. There are elements that are better, but on the whole, it’s not. Let’s look position by position.
C. JT Realmuto vs. Nido/Narvaez= Phils++
1b Hoskins (.794 OPS) vs. Alonso (.869 OPS)= Mets+
2b Stott (.653 OPS) vs. McNeil (.836 OPS)= Mets++
SS Turner (.809 OPS) vs. Lindor (.788 OPS)= Wash
3b Bohm (.713 OPS) vs. Escobar (.726 OPS)= Wash
LF Schwarber (.827 OPS) vs. Canha (.770 OPS)= Phils+
CF Marsh (.679 OPS) vs. Nimmo (.800 OPS)=Mets++
RF Castellanos (.694 OPS) vs. Marte (.814 OPS)=Mets++
DH Harper (.878 OPS) vs. Vogelbach/Alvarez/Baty (.830 OPS)=Phils++ (mainly because of the unknown production of Alvarez/Baty, otherwise this is Phils+, not Phils++).
Add em up. Mets +2. Now, maybe you’re expecting big things from Castellanos, Marsh, Stott, or Bohm that they didn’t show last year, because of strong 2nd halves or what have you, but I’m sure Mets fans are expecting bigger things out of Escobar, Nimmo, Baty, and Alvarez. I’m thinking you’re suffering from hometown bias, but take it from someone who is a fan of neither team, objectively speaking, the Mets are better, if only slightly so.