Philadelphia Phillies Playoff Push 2024 season

[JudgeMetalTV]

Today we advance to Season 2, the 2025 season for our Phillies.

The winter meetings went by fairly quietly for the Phillies. Players were identified and contacted well before the meetings

The overall strategy of improving the teams defense was addressed with the signing of Jason Heyward and by moving a top prospect in a trade for Jose Iglesias.

Bullpen depth was added by trading Rafeal Marchan to the Brewers for David Bednar and in the rule 5 draft with the addition of Darien Nunez.

We talk about the moves and the strategy behind them and much more on todays update.

https://youtu.be/cmVPmDvKQbE

[JudgeMetalTV]

I'm entering my 4th season with this Phillies team. Over the years we have developed two off Spring training traditions.

1. We kick butt in Florida.
Every season we rack up wins in Spring training, the pitching is outstanding and there are always a few hot bats to carry us through. This year is no different. With about a week to go the team has a 14-5-4 record and holds first in the East.

Tradition two.
Someone always seems to get hurt in their last start or AB. two years ago Zach Wheeler went down in his last start, last year Bryce harper was hurt literally in what was to be his last Spring training AB. This Year? Emerson Hancock is out with a ruptured ulnar collateral ligament. I don't know what that is but I do know it means he's out for ten months!

As you can see below Eduar Segovia and Brandon Pfaadt have pitched well through the Spring. If Segovia stays he will be making the leap from A+ to the Majors!

I'll post a video once Spring Training is complete to go over the roster and final cut downs.

[JudgeMetalTV]

Spring training is over. The Phillies leave Florida with 18 wins, the most wins in baseball.

In the video posted below we recap the Spring, talk about our projected line up, set the starting rotation and bullpen roles, finally we take a quick trip through the NL East for an update on the competition.

Note: The original video had some technical problems. I had to re shoot with the original audio. Unfortunately I did not catch on to the issues until after I advance into the regular season. There will be a few times where I will reference statistics that no longer show on the screen.

https://youtu.be/Sw0wzPqh7R8

Projected Line up:

1 R Otto Lopez 2b
2. R Rhys Hoskins 1b
3. L Kyle Schwarber LF
4. R Nick Castellanos DH
5. R JT Realmuto C
6. L Bryce Harper RF
7. R Johan Rojas CF
8. R Alec Bohm 3B
9. R Jose Iglesias SS

Against Lefties we will flip Schwarbs and Castellanos, also we will play Alex Campos in RF early in the season vs Lefthanders. Both Campos and Harper have not performed as expected. Whomever produces will play the majority of the time.

Starting rotation:
1. RHP Aaron Nola
2. LHP Clayton Kershaw
3. RHP Sixto Sanchez
4. LHP Ranger Suarez
5. RHP Brandon Pfaadt

Yes I'm giving away one of the teasers for the video but i get some of you want the Cliff notes and not the greater detail in the video. The decision to go with Pfaadt over Segovia was simply because Pfaadt went deeper in games and Segovia does have a little more possible development. I wouldn't be surprised at all if Segovia is up sometime this season.

For this team to succeed Nola needs to take it up a notch from recent seasons. He doesn't have to dominate, but 6-7 innings ona regular basis will be needed.
Kershaw is still effecftive but throws a lot of pitches to get through innings. Because of that we hope for 6 solid from him.

Sanchez is young and we hope will thrive in the 3rd spot. As with Nola we will need innings from him.
Suarez is not nearly as good as he is IRL. He and Pfaadt have "stuff" but the hope is for 5 effective innings.

Bullpen
CL RHP Bednar
CL/Setup :HP Alverado
Setup RHP Osuna
Mid RHP Martinez
Mid LHP Nunez
Mid RHP Arias
Mid LHP Dohy
Long RHP Norwood

Overall a solid group. Of note Arias was out of options and took a spot from Kyle Finnegan. Finnegan is at Lehigh valley. It was difficult cutting this bullpen down. So many pitchers threw the ball very well in Spring training. This group can be very effective but the starters must consistently get to the 6th inning. If so this group could be number one in the NL once again.

[JudgeMetalTV]

The 2025 Phillies opened up the season in Seattle with 3 against the Mariners. Seattle is projected to win 90 games after adding Corbin Burns to a team that made the Playoffs in 2024.

Nola and Andrew Taylor faced each other on opening day in a tight 3-1 Mariners victory. Philly would drop 2 of 3 before heading to New York for 3 with the Yankees.

After winning game one in New York game 2 was rained out and scheduled as a double header the following day. The Bombers sweep the double header and the Phillies head home at 2-4 to face the Cardinals in the home opener.

The Phillies are currently playing without Bryce Harper and Nick Castellanos. Harper has been day to day and should be back in the line up in a day or two, Nick is on the IL and is expected back in about 9 days.

Rhys Hoskins and Johan Rojas are leading the Phillies out the gate, check out the link below for highlights from the opening road trip of the 2025 season.

https://youtu.be/51foIK6k3iI

[JudgeMetalTV]

We are back in South Philly for the Home opener vs the red hot Stl Cardinals. The Cardinals are 6-0 facing our 2-4 Phils. Check out the quick video summary of the first Homestand of the 2025 season.

https://youtu.be/o96wSMHodh0

The Phillies would go on to sweep the three-game set vs the Cardinals. Division rival Atlanta was next, the Phillies win game one in 11 innings but drop the last two games of the homestand falling to 6-6.

Johan Rojas continues to shine, leading the team in batting average OBP, HR’s, SB’s, Hits, and runs scored. He went 5 for 10 with 2 homers vs the Braves. At what point does this young man move up in the batting order?

A quick peak at how each player is doing offensively (see below), As mentioned above Rojas is the star so far but 3 homers for Harper gives you hope the power may be returning and Labarada gives the Phillies a 2nd legit base stealing threat for now. Most likely his .185 average will result in a return to AAA once Castellanos is back from injury.

We turn to the pitching staff Overall terrible numbers put up by most of the staff but with some solid performances sprinkled in. Ranger Suarez has pitched well as a starter, but with Segovia tearing it up in AAA Brandon Pfaadt needs to get on track.

In the bullpen Martinez and Nunez have thrown the ball well, Bednar and Arias have each had one bad outing otherwise have been effective.

The NL east standings are listed below, Phils at the bottom of the pile at 6-6. Marlins and Mets lead the way at 8-5.

The Phillies are in a stretch of 16 straight games without a day off. The starters need to hang in these games especially with Nunez day to day for a few more days.

Up next the Phillies are back on the road. Starting in StL, the cards are 9-3 on the season only losses are those three they dropped in Philly. Our next update will be at the end of April, we will recap the first month of the season.

[JudgeMetalTV]

The month of April is complete and it's been a struggle. The team is 12-13 and 3 games behind the Mets and Braves in the NL East

Kyle Schwarber joins the 300 HR club. Watch Schwarbs make history and see the April Recap. (see link below)

https://youtu.be/JgVzbE-cqRM

It’s been a month of inconsistency, in the field on the mound and at the plate. Solid performances from Johan Rojas and Kyle Schwarber are offset by inconsistency from Nola and Kershaw, among others.

Clayton Kershaw has been extremely hittable on most days. 2-2 in 5 starts with a 6.43 ERA, 38 hits in 28 innings, allowing 7 home runs, opponents are hitting .314 against the veteran lefty.

Aaron Nola the Phillies ace is 1-3 with a 5.58 ERA in 5 starts. Allowing 36 hits in 30 innings, opponents are hitting .286 against him, with a 1.53 WHIP, 3.2 BB per 9 and 2.3 HR per 9 it’s been a very unAaron Nola like start.

In the bullpen, Veteran Righthander Roberto Osuna has been outstanding since joining the Phillies from the Astros. As a phillie Osuna entered this season with 93 innings pitched and a 2.02 ERA. Last season ended with a major Injury forcing Roberto to miss the playoffs. This season Roberto returns from that injury but just can’t seem to get on track 18 hits in 10.1 innings a 6.97 era and a team high WHIP of 2.13.

Osuna’s struggles have opened the door for Dayeison Arias. Arias was one of the last roster decisions out of spring training the 28-year-old has taken full advantage so far. In 11 appearances he’s pitched 12.2 innings allowed just 6 hits a 3.55 ERA, just a .136 opponents’ batting average and 0.63 WHIP. All 5 runs Arias has allowed were in one appearance at Yankee Stadium.

Offensively the Phillies are lead by Johan Rojas, a .455 OBP, 8 homers, 20 RBI, 18 runs scored, combining 15 steals with a .709 slugging pct. Schwarbs has 9 homers 20 RBI, and Bryce Harpers .364 OBP and 5 Homers is giving hope that the Phillies star may be turning things around.

As a team the Phillies lead the NL in Home runs and are second in extra base hits. It’s been a capable but inconsistent offense.

The Phillies are 14th in the NL in ERA, with the starters posting a 5.59 era as a unit. 127 runs allowed is 14th.

The team is 8-4 at home but just 4-9 on the road.
In the minors

Jonathan Guzman was honored with the International League Batter of the Month award.

The Lehigh Valley third baseman posted a .311 batting average with 6 home runs, 26 RBIs and scored 18 runs. Guzman also worked pitchers for 7 walks to post a .364 on-base percentage.

The Eastern League Pitcher of the Month is Reading hurler, Starlyn Castillo.
During the month, Castillo excelled with a 1.48 ERA and 4 wins and no losses. In 24.1 innings he struck out 24 and gave up 19 hits and 8 walks.

Wrapping up, the Phillies did have a tough 16 games in 16 days stretch and has faced some difficult teams, the Cardinals, Yankees, Braves, and Mariners all are expected to be Playoff teams. But if the Phillies want to exercise some recent post season demons these are the teams they need to beat.