The Philadelphia Phillies have shot out of the blocks in 2019, featuring a frightening offense that may allow them to lap the NL field.
Despite one of the most impressive Hot Stove seasons in MLB history, the 2019 Philadelphia Phillies came out of the gate this spring with a surprisingly ordinary amount carping from Negadelphia fans and media.
One writer found the lineup to be “botched”; another pointed to their “invisible left-handed starter”; a third found the lineup, despite vast improvement, to have “hurdles.” Imagine what would have happened if Phillies management hadn’t added four former All-Stars, two of whom had been MVPs.
What if they hadn’t pounded the hell out of Atlanta in their first three games?
However, are there early signs of vulnerability as writer Tal Venada implied might arise in the long run? (Tal’s the “hurdles” guy and a fellow CttP writer.) What we want to examine here are the early Phillies numbers related to batting efficiency (walks and strikeouts) and resulting production.
Of course, those first three games against the Braves were very promising. Eight home runs! Twenty-three runs scored! Those are, respectively, the best performance in team history and the second-ranking performance in the past 30 years. However, let’s go a bit more global in spite of the still relatively small sample size, with a quick look backward.