They’re ready.
For the second year in a row, the Phillies are NL East champions. Monday night’s thrilling, worth-it-if-you-stayed-up-to-watch-it 6-5 win in 10 innings, put the final nail in the Mets’ coffin, clinching the division on September 15, the earliest any Phils team has ever won their division, besting 2011 by two days.
With 11 games left and two more against the Dodgers in L.A., the Phils’ next mission is to win one more game and secure the season tie-breaker against Los Angeles, while continuing
to add to their already-large 5 1/2 game lead for the No. 2 seed and the all-important bye past the wild card round of the playoffs. They are also just 1 1/2 games behind Milwaukee for the best overall record in baseball.
There are still things to play for over the season’s final two weeks, and there’s no doubt the Phillies want to maintain the energy and intensity they’ve featured since a Trade Deadline that has seen them post MLB’s best record, 29-14.
It’s been a remarkable ride. When the sun set on July 31 and Dave Dombrowski had finished compiling his mid-season acquisitions, the Phillies trailed New York by a half-game in the NL East. They were 61-47 and had just lost a series to the lowly White Sox in Chicago.
Then, Jhoan Duran, Harrison Bader and David Robertson arrived. Outfield and bullpen roles became more established. The roster became deeper and more dangerous. It may very well be, despite all the money the Dodgers and Mets have spent on their players, the best roster in baseball.
Over the last two weeks, the Phillies have shown everyone they are more prepared for October than any previous iteration. Monday night’s game was akin to a playoff game. Facing off against a team they could very well meet in the NL divisional round, the Phils went toe-to-toe with the Dodgers in a see-saw affair that saw contributions from virtually everyone in the lineup.
- Kyle Schwarber hit a leadoff homer, his 53rd blast of the year, foiling Dave Roberts’ plan to use an “opener.”
- Otto Kemp ended five hitless innings against Emmet Sheehan with a lead-off ground-rule double to open the 7th inning, trailing 3-1.
- Bryson Stott, who struggled for so much of the season but red-hot since making a swing adjustment at the start of August, smashed an RBI single to make it 3-2.
- Weston Wilson, playing second base with Stott at shortstop while Trea Turner and Edmundo Sosa are out, came through with a monstrous, go-ahead two-run blast in the No. 9 hole to give the Phils a 4-3 lead.
- Bryce Harper, who has seemingly struggled in late-and-clutch situations this season, hit his biggest home run of the season, a solo shot in the 8th that broke a 4-4 tie.
- Harrison Bader, pulling off a double steal as the zombie runner in the 10th, getting to third base with less than two outs.
- J.T. Realmuto, displaying solid fundamental baseball by hitting a sacrifice fly to score the eventual winning run in the 10th.
Ranger Suarez put together a perfectly acceptable, workmanlike performance with six innings, three runs allowed, seven hits, two walks and five strikeouts. Not his best work, but effective enough against a very good Dodgers lineup.
David Robertson, the veteran 40-year-old reliever who did not pitch in a game for anyone this season until August 11, managed to escape the bottom of the 10th without allowing the zombie runner from 2nd to score, retiring noted Phillie-killer Miguel Rojas and Max Muncy with the bases loaded.
This all happened even with the team’s two most high leverage relievers, Orion Kerkering and Jhoan Duran, allowing game-tying home runs in the 7th and 9th innings.
Monday night was exactly the kind of game these Phillies will find themselves playing in the postseason — high stakes against a quality opponent in a see-saw affair that will require contributions from everyone on the roster, stars and back-up players alike. But the Phils have been winning games like this for the better part of a month now.
After getting humiliatingly swept by the Mets, the Phillies have gone 14-4, an 18-game stretch launched by Kyle Schwarber’s four home run game the night after the Citi Field Massacre. They would win three of four from the Braves, take two of three in another playoff-like atmosphere in Milwaukee against the Brewers, win another two of three against a hot Marlins team in Miami, sweep the second place Mets in four games at home, and win two of three against the Royals at the Bank.
This Phillies team is as ready for October as any that has come before it. If only they could bottle exactly what they have now and open it when the playoffs begin, but while they cannot do that, they are the hottest team in baseball during this stretch run, exactly what everyone wanted before the season began.
There are two more games in L.A. and still some important items left to play for.
The NL East is in their back pocket. Home field advantage throughout the playoffs is next.
After that, a World Series.
