Bohm and Away

 

It is Philadelphia law, it seems, for a Philly sports team to completely shit away a golden opportunity. 

Everywhere you look recently, the Philadelphia sports teams are just blowing opportunities like it's their jobs. The Flyers were top seeded a few years ago and still lost in the first round of the playoffs. The Sixers have lost to lower-seeded teams every year and just blamed shit on like one player or the coach. Even teams that have actually won championships, like the 2008 Phillies or the 2017 Eagles, have refused to sustain the luck past a few years, and have bobbled away their luck with questionable decisions. 

And here we have the Phillies. Who, if they just...keep winning games, and not have any large losing streaks, could break their 11-year-long postseason drought, which is the longest in the NL. But...they haven't been making it an easy run to October. They had a crucial series against the Braves where they could have proved how playoff-ready they are, and instead they dropped all three games and nearly got no-hit by Spencer Strider. 

There is a strong possibility that the Phillies, if they DO make it into the playoffs, and judging by how much fun New York teams have had with Milwaukee recently, could still happen, will have to play either the Braves or the Cardinals. And ironically, as much as I dread it, the Cardinals matchup would be the one the Phils would have more luck with. But if things progress as they have, the Phils might be going right back to Atlanta, and will have to play a team they've had so much trouble with this year. 

The good news is some of their hero pieces have been looking very good recently. J.T. Realmuto has been hot as hell of late, now leading the team in RBIs with 78. Bryson Stott, as expected, has taken over as the starting shortstop, and has proven himself an apt power hitter, along with Alec Bohm, who's hitting .289 despite subpar defense. Kyle Schwarber might finish the season with 40 homers, which would be a first for him, and I kinda figured he'd hit a ton of homers in Philly anyway. And Nick Maton, Brandon Marsh and now Dalton Guthrie are hitting well in lower lineup spots. And yeah, with Harper back, they've got a league high as a centerpiece.

I do think the Phillies still have a good chance at a playoff spot, and they're definitely closer than they've been in years, but they NEED to jump on this opportunity and stay hot through the stretch. Because it'd be very embarrassing if the Phillies blew this opportunity as well.

Not surprising, but embarrassing.

Coming Tomorrow- Even if the Twins don't make the playoffs, they still have a hard hitting first baseman with Miguel Sano injured.