The Phillies have been hot. Winners of nine of their last ten, they have vaulted themselves back into the National League East race to at least make things interesting there while also tightening their grip on a wild card position. There is still plenty of time to go in the season and a lot can still happen, but their recent play has at least made it plausible that they can still be playing baseball once the calendar flips to October.
What has been interesting of late has been that this recent brand
of winning baseball has been led not by the bedrock of their roster construction plan, the starting rotation, but by a lineup that has suddenly become deep and dangerous. Once a group that has been allergic to getting on base with any kind of regularity, they have now shown that they can do so at any point in the game. Since the All-Star break, as a team, they are fifth in the game with a .340 on base percentage, sixth in batting average with a .261 mark and have the fourth best strikeout rate with an 18.9% mark. They aren’t striking out as much, they are hitting the baseball and they are getting on base.
Weird how that can actually work, right?
That begs the question though: is this just a hot streak, or a legitimate change that can be depended on once the chips are down?
We all know that this type of play is all well and good for the regular season as it lets them be able to even entertain the thought of playing in October, but the real test will come once the quality of pitching is at its peak. When they are facing the best pitching staffs in the game when the playoffs are on the line, will this approach continue to aid their winning baseball games?
What say you?
Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the MLB. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Phillies fans and fans across the country.
