Coming off four consecutive losing seasons, the 2017 Phillies are not likely to snap that streak this year but appear to have a promising future.
The Phillies franchise has had two stretches during which they were regular playoff contenders. They made the post-season six times in eight years from 1976 to 1983, winning the World Series in 1980, then made the post-season again five years in a row from 2007 to 2011, with another World Series title in 2008. The 2011 team at the very end of that 2007 to 2011 stretch won the most games in franchise history, but lost in the NLDS to the St. Louis Cardinals. They haven’t sniffed the playoffs since.
One of the problems the Phillies had after being so successful was relying on the same core group of players as they aged beyond their peaks. The 2012 team had seven regular position players who were 31 years old or older. The 2014 team had a couple more young players mixed in but still had five regulars who were now 34 years old or older, including the three key position players during their recent glory years—Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard. It wasn’t until 2015 that they broke up this trio and went young, except for Ryan Howard and his albatross contract, which was impossible to move.
Last year’s regular lineup was almost all players under 30. Ryan Howard still got 362 plate appearances, but the 2016 Phillies were the team of Odubel Herrera (24 years old), Cesar Hernandez (26) and Tommy Joseph (24). Their pitching rotation was also young, with only 29-year-old Jeremy Hellickson being older than 26. The regular late-inning relievers were Jeanmar Gomez (28 years old), Hector Neris (27 years old) and David Hernandez (31 years old).
The Phillies got off to a good start last year. They peaked at seven games over .500 when they were 24-17 on May 18, and were at .500 until the very end of May. From that point on, it was a struggle. They had an ugly June, going 9-19, then were able to tread water in July and August (a combined 25-28), before going 11-18 in September and October. They ended up in fourth place, 24 games behind the Washington Nationals (but ahead of the Atlanta Braves, so there’s that).
So, how do the Phillies look for 2017? What were their important additions and subtractions? How does their lineup look? What are the expectations for 2017? Read on to find out.