2026 Phillies Thread

[royboy]

At the best of Phillies starters Wheeler, Sanchez, Luzardo, and Nola, is there an MLB team with more talent in starting pitchers?

Unfortunately, each starter has occasional injury issues and off-days, and good middle relief is lacking. But other playoff teams would probably like to avoid a matchup with the Phillies.

 

[Tom McAndrew]

 

[Tom McAndrew]

 

[Grant Green]

Given both have ample rest (Nola should have more right?) who do you throw in a Game 2 playoff game, Nola or Sanchez?

 

[Grant Green]

At the best of Phillies starters Wheeler, Sanchez, Luzardo, and Nola, is there an MLB team with more talent in starting pitchers?

Unfortunately, each starter has occasional injury issues and off-days, and good middle relief is lacking. But other playoff teams would probably like to avoid a matchup with the Phillies.

Pray that Luzardo can make it back and return to form. He's their best pitcher over the last 4+ starts.

 

[Tom McAndrew]

Given both have ample rest (Nola should have more right?) who do you throw in a Game 2 playoff game, Nola or Sanchez?

not an easy question to answer. Sanchez has been the obvious answer for most of the season. But based on the past month, Nola has made quite the case. Perhaps it's a matter of which one matches up better against the opposing team, whether the wind is blowing in or out, or other variables.

I'm curious to see how they'll handle starts in the remaining games. It appears that Urquidy will be pitching on Friday (not sure if he starts or the Fightins use a bullpen game with Urquidy slated for the bulk of the innings). Then Painter looks to be on tap for Saturday. Assuming Lazardo is deemed healthy when eligible to come off the IR, you have to think they'll want to get him a start, or several innings, to prepare him for the playoffs.

Crazy season for the pitching staff. Wheels wasn't even ready when the season started. Painter had a great 1st start, and then spiraled down for @ two months, but since his time in the minors he's been better than expected (with the occassional hiccup). Sanchez was the ace for most of the season, but has not been elite of late. Luzardo has been awesome for most of the season, and after his last start (a real gem) he ends up on IR.

 

[LionsAndBears]

Magic Number is 6.

 

[Lil Nicky Scarfo]

Magic Number is 6.

It’s 5

 

[RyanSnyder]

 

[Lil Nicky Scarfo]

Oooff - from the Good Phight site:

“One of the tougher calls that Don Mattingly is going to have to make is what to do in left field over the next few weeks. Since July 1, no qualified hitter in baseball has a worse wRC+ than Brandon Marsh and the gap isn’t close. He’s hitting just .179 with a .489 OPS and has been worth -1.5 fWAR in that span. He’s a mess”

“The Phillies’ offense has largely sat as one of the worst in the sport, ranking 28th in wRC+, 23rd in on-base percentage, and 23rd in raw OPS. It’s probably about as bad as an offense can be while the team is on track to make the postseason.”

Given the very positive RISP stats Tom cited a few posts back, the Phils are doing great when men get on base - it’s the getting on base stuff that’s the problem. More than half the lineup, including key guys like Turner, have absolutely putrid OBPs. That’s what is killing this offense - that plus a lack of power from all but 2 guys

 

[royboy]

And Marsh was hot in the early season, named to the All-star lineup. Strange.

Mattingly went for one run at a time last evening with sacrifice bunts and flies. We'll see more of that?

 

[Lil Nicky Scarfo]

And Marsh was hot in the early season, named to the All-star lineup. Strange.

Mattingly went for one run at a time last evening with sacrifice bunts and flies. We'll see more of that?

Someone on the Good Phight brought up a great point about Marsh. It could just come down to him running out of gas. He’s always been a platoon guy, but he’s been pretty full time this year. He’s already had about 15% more plate appearances this year than his previous high and could just need an extended break to regroup.

 

[LionsAndBears]

It’s 5

Chat GPT says 6. Oh well.