An interesting start to the post season and what it could mean to the Phillies-
1- I am always fascinated with the shift from starter importance to bullpen importance in the post season. I found it refreshing that in 3 of the games today, you saw the starters go deep into the game. These did not turn into post season bullpen games.
The Phillies and Topper leaned heavily on their starters and their model was to let them go deep. Will Thomson follow this in the post season or feel he needs to lean more heavily on a deep bullpen. I think it’s safe to say that Wheeler has a LOT more leash than Nola/Sanchez/Ranger. I also believe that he will have a very quick hook with starters other than Wheeler.
1a- If Topper is more inclined to rely on the pen, either more pitchers appear or innings are stretched. Does he have confidence to use Alvarado and Ruiz or do the main pen pieces suddenly pitch more than just one inning? Do Hoffman and Matt see multiple inning situations?
I think 1/1a are the critical strategic decisions facing the Phillies. You won’t get the answer in Game 1 with Wheeler but you’ll get a view with #2-4 starters early on and what the approach may be. If the Phillies go deep, I think that Kerkering has to be a key piece in this both from workload and effectiveness of his workload.
#2- I’ve beat the OF issue up previously, but I’m more convinced than before that Rojas has to be in CF. He is the one OF piece who can impact the outcome of a game. Hays physical issues might make this an easy decision, but I think Rojas has to be your CF’er.
#3- These games often are decided by a big swing. You don’t piece together a number of hits against quality pitchers so I think the games turn on big swings. This has normally been Harper time but I’m a tad concerned about Harp. I think the big swings are more likely from Schwarber and Nick. Turner and Bohm are the wild cards here, it bodes well if either of these guys show more power in the post season. I’d like to see Turner run more when he’s on base, same with Stott and Marsh.
#4- So much of the post season often finds a surprise player making a big contribution. It would not shock me at all if Clemens or Wilson winds up in a spotlight moment.
Let’s turn it up!