The Philadelphia Phillies (76-54) had all of the questions and none of the answers for over a month of the season, going 15-22 over their last 37 games dating back to their series leading into the All-Star Break.
After their most recent series with the Kansas City Royals (72-58), the Phillies may have things figured out once again.
MLB.com and Bleacher Report have released their latest team power rankings. Both are aware of what the Phillies are capable of when clicking and still have the club in their respective top-fives.
Here’s Will Leitch from MLB.com:
“It really is a good thing that neither the Braves nor the Mets have been on any sort of hot streak lately, because the Phillies have left the door cracked open for both of them. The Phillies have had a lot of slack in the division race lately, and they still haven’t used up all of it. We’ll see how much they have left when they face the Braves for four games in Philly this weekend; they get three games against the Astros heading into Thursday.”
Joel Reuter from Bleacher Report:
” With Austin Hays and Ranger Suarez both activated from the injured list last week, the Phillies are at full strength outside of long reliever Spencer Turnbull who has been sidelined with a lat strain since June 26. That will give them all of September to sort out bullpen roles, line up their starting rotation and make any tweaks to their lineup, assuming they can stay healthy going forward. They might be the most complete team in baseball when everything is clicking.”
As stated above, if the Phillies’ most recent series is any indication, everything is once again clicking.
The Phillies offense batted a combined .372/.403/.570 with 17 extra-base hits and 26 runs scored in 129 plate appearances over the three games.
While the offense was busy mashing, the pitching was busy holding things down in their own right. Pitching to a combined 4.15 ERA over 26 innings and only allowed 12 runs, with six of those going to just Taijuan Walker in three innings, the pitching has also found its groove once again.
If you eliminate the six runs Walker allowed in three innings, the rest of the pitching staff carried a 2.35 ERA across 23 innings.
The Phillies are the most complete team in baseball this season when everything is clicking. They just slowed down for a month to make things more interesting down the stretch.