Phillies News and Discussion 2025 Season

[zambonir]

AF has decided to invent his own definition of "horse" that nobody has ever used. If Luzardo has three seasons in a row like this w/o an injury or loss of stuff you can call him that. Nola is a horse, but age and health finally got him this year. Also doesn't matter how good Luzardo's stuff is if he's still a risk to struggle like he has in several stretches this year.

Depending on the opposition they might not want three LHPs starting. But I also think we can expect a lot more four or five inning starts, if not something like Game 1 of the 2023 NLDS (3 2/3 innings from Ranger and six reliever).

It's all talk but sounds like they are certainly not ruling out Buehler on the playoff roster. His career post-season numbers are strong and of course Cotham hopes to fix him. Both Vandy guys.

[Austinfan]

Arm strength and durability are two different attributes.
Luzardo has the arm strength to maintain velocity over 100+ pitches.
And he's maintained that strength over a sizeable work load. And did it two years ago.

[andyb]

It's all talk but sounds like they are certainly not ruling out Buehler on the playoff roster. His career post-season numbers are strong and of course Cotham hopes to fix him. Both Vandy guys.

Right now I'd agree though let's see how his 2-3 starts work out. Luzardo to the bullpen replacing Alvarado is still viable if Nola looks decent. We'd rather have a right handed pitcher in our top 3 if we can and 2-inning bullpen arm that throws 100 from the left side could be just as valuable as a 4th starter. And we could also use that last week to transition Luzardo a bit.

Then Buehler or Walker is the 4th starter with the other as a potential tandem (of for short starts from a left-handed starter like Ranger).

[bigegypt0417]

Both are required to be a horse...

It's ok to not to redefine a term to fit your inaccurate description.

[andyb]

Forget the silly descriptions. If I had to pick one pitcher to go 7 innings as a starter in the postseason right now that pitcher is Sanchez. He is the number one at the moment. Suarez is the guy I trust the most to be a good playoff pitcher. He is number 2.

Everything else is up in the air. Roles TBD and may the best pitcher grab them.

[bigegypt0417]

Agree 100%.

Hopefully Nola can work himself in to a third option.

[Callison]

Buehler might be instantly better pitching to JT.

Another long shot, but one that starts with a little hope.

[andyb]

I don't mind giving the last roster spot to Stubbs. He is not better than Marchan and will rarely play, but this does let them rest JT more often down the stretch and might even let them DH him or certainly pinch hit which they rarely do on his off days now.

There are arguments for Rojas and Kemp, though the reality is they were already behind Bader and Wilson and we rarely pinch hit other than when we have one of the platoon players in. Rojas for pinch running might actually make more sense in the playoffs, but again, we'll rarely do that and extra inning games are more of a thing in the playoffs so you won't run for Schwarber in the 9th of a close game most times.

[Austinfan]

I don't care about 3 LH pitchers, for one thing, both Suarez and Sanchez have plus changeups to use against RH..

The wildcard is Luzardo, he struggled for a stretch, tipping pitches and learning what works, but he's been pretty much lights out in August, using his slider/sweeper more. If he pitches like this through September, you have to use him ahead of Nola unless the latter suddenly regains his prime form.

[andyb]

Today's game should be fun against Misiorowski.

[allentown]

Prior to this season, a Phillies strength was that Wheeler and Nola were close to 200 IP true horses who spared the pen IP. This season they both broke down. Wheeler is gone for season and we don.t know how strong Nola is. THOSE ARE TWO VERY BIG PROBLEMS, Luzardo? He had a nice 2023, though not close to 200 IP. He's likely to match those or better those 178 IP this year and to do so with a better FIP. He's as close to a horse as we have this year. Sanchez is our #1 horse this year, based both on IP and FIP.with twice the the rWAR of Luzardo. Luzardo, is our #2 horse, or I'd say almost horse, this year. He's never approache 200 IP and fell short of 100 last season. I don't think max velocity or how deep in a game a pitcher holds velocity qualifies as a horse. For me, it IP coupled with quality of results...................

[julio]

this does let them rest JT more often down the stretch and might even let them DH him or certainly pinch hit which they rarely do on his off days now.

DH Realmuto instead of Schwarber? Defense is irrelevant to a DH, and on offense, there's no comparison between these two. Schwarber is flirting with an MVP season; Realmuto... is not.

[andyb]

JT does have an 818 OPS since July 1. Schwarber does play LF once in a while to let somebody rest.

It is not the worst thing to keep JT's bat in the lineup these days. If Kepler or Wilson or Castellanos sit that day it might be a good thing.

[EastFallowfield]

The Phillies entered Monday having scored more runs in innings seven through nine (225) than any other team in MLB, also ranking fourth in runs scored in one-run games (324) and second in runs scored in tie-games (168). The trend continued against the Brewers, as the Phillies scored four runs across the eighth and ninth.

It may not always feel like it, but the Phillies are one of the best late-inning teams in baseball.

Phillies ‘just kept battling back’ in late, gritty win against Brewers

[DurhamBull]

It may not always feel like it, but the Phillies are one of the best late-inning teams in baseball.

In unrelated news, Phillies phans are among the highest consumers of antacid tablets.

[zambonir]

It may not feel like it, but the Phillies are one of the best teams in baseball.

[LegoDoom]

It definitely doesn't feel like it.

[EastFallowfield]

The top 5 run scoring teams, innings 7-9:

Phils 225
Jays 222
Mets 215
Red Sox 213 (with one more game than the three above them)
Yankees 205 (with two less games than the top three)

Phils are second to the Jays in innings 7-9 OPS behind the Blue Jays.

What would really surprise the glass half empty crowd is that the Phils are tied for next to last in DPs hit into in those innings. Only the Braves are better at not hitting into DPs in those innings.

[Callison]

Here's hoping Nola is going to somehow get his game back. Maybe he's going through the Spring Training development experience again. But yesterday, he started the game with a lapse in concentration. Looked OK after giving away 5 runs to best team in MLB, so there's the talent. When he melts down, it's usually a few innings into the game. Was a huge Nola problem before the injuries and it's still a huge Nola problem. Huge question mark hanging in the air for the former #2 starter.

Still hoping to make a statement against the Brewers.

[Jazzhead]

So far tonight, Kepler, Marsh and Bader have all homered.

Methinks NIckCastellanos has been Pipped.