The Philadelphia Phillies are currently in the World Series, waiting until Friday to show the world that they can play at the highest level and against the favored team, the Houston Astros.
The road to get there wasn’t exactly smooth, however.
Their 87-75 was the second-worst among playoff teams and the worst in the National League.
You can say they entered through the window and not the door.
They fired their manager in June and had Rob Thomson take over, and at that point the team started to slowly build a playoff case.
Their best player, Bryce Harper, fractured his thumb and missed several weeks.
And they had to get help from the worst team in baseball to advance.
“In the regular season, the Phillies were below .500 against teams that were not the Nationals. Now, they are four wins away from a World Series victory,” stats expert Jeremy Frank tweeted.
In the regular season, the Phillies were below .500 against teams that were not the Nationals.
Now, they are four wins away from a World Series victory.
— Jeremy Frank (@MLBRandomStats) October 23, 2022
The Phillies Consistently Beat The Nationals
The Phillies were an incredible 16-3 against the Washington Nationals.
That’s not their fault, though: they took advantage of the calendar and the things it offered to them, beat up on a clearly inferior team, and accumulated wins that way.
Then, a good team got hot in the playoffs and parlayed two dominant starters (Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola), a couple of elite relievers and a very strong lineup into a World Series appearance.
It’s a good formula, and it worked for them.
MLB changed things and there won’t be so many intra-divisional games starting in 2023, but the Phils sure made 2022 count by consistently beating what was a Triple-A team for much of the season.
Kudos to them, and yes: they are four wins away from winning the World Series.
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