Once again, the Phillies failed to come out of the All-Star break on a high note, dropping a series to the awful Mets. They need to put that unpleasantness behind them quickly, as the schedule becomes much tougher starting with a three-game set against the defending champions. As it happens, it is also the team that knocked them out of the playoffs last year, so this would be a good opportunity to show that if they face off again, things might go differently.
Opposition research: Teoscar Hernandez
For many teams, having a high-profile
player like Teoscar Hernandez suffer through a poor season would be a death knell for their playoff hopes. Hernandez suffered a hamstring injury in late May which cost him over a month on the Injured List. Since his return, he is batting .118 with one home run. Overall, he has an OPS of .698 which combined with his typically poor defense in the outfield has made him worth 0.1 WAR this season.
This is lining up to be Hernandez’s second straight disappointing season. He hit 25 home runs in 2025, but he also had a sub-.300 on-base percetnage. Unfortunately, that all-or-nothing trend carried into the postseason when he had a poor NLDS, except for one particular at bat.
Has this slowed the Dodgers down? Perhaps slightly, as they’re only 9-7 since his return. Does this preclude him from finding his stride come playoff time where he can deliver yet another big postseason hit? Not at all.
Remembering a guy who used to play for both teams
In theory, Mike Lieberthal had a solid career with the Phillies. In his 13 years with the team, he made two All-Star teams and won a Gold Glove at the catching position. It’s just unfortunate that he was cursed. His tenure with the team spanned from 1994 to 2006 which lined up exactly with a postseason drought. (The team bafflingly put him on their Wall of Fame in 2012 which kicked off another decade long playoff absence.)
After 2006, the team wisely handed the catching job to Carlos Ruiz and Lieberthal signed with the Dodgers as a free agent. He didn’t have much left in the tank by then. He played in 38 games with a meager .540 OPS as the Dodgers unsurprisingly missed the playoffs.
Sadly, he was allowed to leave in free agency after the season, and the Dodgers made it to the playoffs in 2008. (Thankfully, that story has a happy ending for Phillies fans!)
Hating on the Dodgers
It used to be fun that the Dodgers would have great regular seasons only to repeatedly come up short in the playoffs. It’s considerably less fun now that they’ve won two straight World Series and are heavy favorites to win a third this season.
Some people think that baseball is better when there’s a villain team that seems to play by its own financial rules, like the Yankees did in the late ‘90s. But you need to villain to sometimes receive a comeuppance. If the Dodgers win again this season, and it leads to a lengthy lockout in 2027, I don’t see how that is beneficial to the sport at all.
Additional thought about the series
The Phillies might have punted a little on the Mets series by holding out Cristopher Sanchez and Zack Wheeler. Hopefully, the additional rest agreed with Sanchez who hasn’t been at his best in recent appearances. The Phillies will likely have to get past the Dodgers to get to the World Series, and their best shot at that is if their dual aces dominate. This might be a good preview as to whether they’re up to the task.
