Philadelphia Phillies 2023 Season Preview
Sometimes all it takes is getting hot at the right time. The Philadelphia Phillies had the fewest wins of any NL playoff team and the second-fewest wins of any team to qualify for the postseason. They even went just 14-17 over their last 31 games and sort of backed into the postseason because Milwaukee struggled more during the stretch run.
And, yet, the Phillies won the National League pennant for the first time since 2008 in their first playoff appearance since 2011. This was a good team throughout the season and it would be wrong to call the playoff run a fluke, but it was certainly unexpected. Philadelphia was only 34-47 against teams .500 or better during the regular season, but ripped off a 9-2 run in the playoffs before falling to the Astros in six games.
It is rare to see a World Series participant that didn’t experience heavy losses as the third favorite to win the division, but that is the case here. The Phillies are also just -200 to return to the playoffs. This is something of a top-heavy roster once again, but the top is very good and it sure felt like interim manager Rob Thomson pushed all the right buttons. He certainly pushed enough to get the job for good and his team will now try to win two more games in the playoffs than last year’s version did.