Fighting for the Last Chair

 
I would like you all to know that I am currently wearing my purple 1998-era Arizona Diamondbacks cap right now.

The Philadelphia Phillies are essentially a game away from making the playoffs for the first time since 2011. Though they have bobbled things recently, including a series against the Cubs where no Phillies bothered to show up at all, their dominance over Washington, while the Marlins were shoving the other wild card competitors the Brewers in a locker, brought then even closer to clinching that spot.

However, again...these are the Philadelphia Phillies we are talking about here. Though they've never been a true last place team this year, the Phillies have also had several embarrassing moments, including a miserable end to August, horrible series with the Giants and Diamondbacks, and several games without key pieces such as Bryce Harper and Jean Segura. And even if this team has given fans a 'this is the one' vibe, with J.T. Realmuto having his best season ever, Rhys Hoskins finally having a well-rounded year, and Aaron Nola finishing off what could be his last season in Philly with a gem...the Phillies have been known to blow opportunities. 

Then again, so have the Brewers. I've talked at length about the 2014 Brewers, how much promise the team had and how quickly the team fell apart when a playoff spot was on the line. There have been a lot of recent Brewers teams that have had excellent regular seasons, and came within inches of a World Series in 2018, but have never conserved their momentum long enough to compete for a title. This season, the Brewers had the division for the former portion of the season, lost it when the Cardinals got super hot, and eventually found themselves gasping for a playoff spot at all. This is the sort of issue the Padres fell into last year, coasting for a wild card spot they assumed was theirs but falling apart at the wrong time. 

The Phillies seem to have this playoff spot in the bag, and only really need to win 1 game to take it, but...the Phillies also have to play the Astros right now. The Brewers get the comparatively simple task of taking down the Diamondbacks. Yes, the D-Backs will be pitching Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly, but the Astros have Framber Valdez, Justin Verlander and Lance McCullers. The Phillies thankfully have Nola and Suarez, and have thankfully left Kyle Gibson back in Philly.

I know that it's probably simple enough, and that with this momentum it could be handled easily, but...the Phillies have burned me several times before. They've had lay-up games go to waste. In fact, that's most of Philly sports in a nutshell. And then, even if the Phillies do win this playoff spot, their 'prize' will be having to go against the Cardinals, a team that Milwaukee couldn't even catch up to. And regardless of any previous Philly luck this season against St. Louis, they are hot, and they have taken advantage of Philadelphia overconfidence before.

This could be cut and dry, and simple. But with a team like the Phillies in this picture, I can't be sure. 

Uncustomed Heroes of 2018: Phillies

This was my first year living consistently in the Philly area since high school, so I got to witness the Phillies' rise and fall first hand. They rose in May, thanks to Herrera, Nola, Arrieta, and some amazing bullpen work. They fell in September, thanks to the Braves, the Nats, and the failure of the lineup to do anything. But in between, it was definitely a fun season, as the Phils added a ton of bullpen talent from the get, and a ton of trade deadline pickups as well.

But...seeing Pat Neshek back as a Phillie after the sad departure last year felt...right. Neshek's 2018 wasn't as good as his 2017, but he was great whenever he was on the mound. Still had a 2.60 ERA in 30 appearances. Not bad at all.

Zach Eflin was the fifth man of the rotation, and while he came nowhere near the awesomeness of the Nola-Arrieta-Velazquez-Pivetta combo, he still posted solid numbers, with an 11-8 record and 123 strikeouts.

 Scott Kingery, seen here in a very cool custom with a very cool sabermetrics-inspired graphic tank top, didn't especially live up to expectations as 'shortstop of the future', but still got 102 hits, and played over 140 games, so...got your playing time in, rook. Good luck backing up Jean Segura.

 Another fun rookie from this year who'll likely be covering the bench is Roman Quinn, who finally hit well in the majors, with a .260 average in 50 games. I still expect him to get some starting time next year, even if it'd be shared with Nick Williams.

And then there's Seranthony Dominguez, who FINALLY took the reigns from Hector Neris in the ninth, after posting great middle relief numbers, and came up with 16 saves in 20 opportunities, a .93 WHIP, and some closing dominance that hasn't been seen since Papelbon. Hope he keeps it up.

...Then there's the deadline additions...

 Asdrubal was the first to make an impact, giving modest but not Mets-level numbers, and being a definite upgrade at shortstop. He hit .230, with only 17 RBIs. Not great, but for a rental, not terrible.

 Wilson Ramos' acquisition took a bit to kick in, as his injury left him out for a lot of August, but when he got here? Even if we didn't really NEED an upgrade from Jorge Alfaro, he was pretty fantastic, hitting .337 in 33 games, with only one catching error compared to Alfaro's...11. We will miss Ramos, no matter where he lands.

 Then, after the deadline, we snuck Justin Bour out of Miami, which must have been nice for him, but...he could have done better than his .224 average. He was basically a classy bench addition, and notched 5 RBIs when he could. He mostly deferred to Santana though, which...may not have ULTIMATELY been the goal, but...kinda was.

And then...there's Joey Bats.

Bautista's not one of my favorites, so to see him suit up for one of my teams was...odd. Very odd. And even if it was for a month, I still couldn't really wrap my head around Jose Bautista in Phillies colors. He only hit 2 of his trademark homers over 27 games, though he hit a fine .244 average. I'm not sure if he's done after this year, but...I'm glad his Philly tenure wasn't a complete disaster (as his Atlanta tenure was).

Coming Tomorrow- They were listless, then for a while THEY WERE FANTASTIC...and then suddenly they were in fourth again. Fun team, though.