The Phillies are looking at a favorable matchup in NLCS
By John Kincade
The matchup with the Padres in the NLCS sets up as very interesting and very favorable. Here are a few quick notes to get you started on your pre-series analysis!
The Phillies won the season series (4-3). The initial series in Philadelphia was won by San Diego (2-1). In an oddity that only happened in that particular series all year! Every game was one by shutout. The Padres book ending the series blanking the Phillies and the home team winning the middle game 3-0.
Rob Thomson only managed the second series of the season. The first series was lost by Joe Girardi just before his firing. The Phillies went to San Diego and won the series there (3-1). They dominated the Padres scoring 18 runs in the 3 victories. Just one troubling note, they were shut out in the only loss in California. The Padres won all 3 of their season victories by shutout.
Many of this years players were on the 2021 Phillies team. They also won the series in San Diego that year so this is a place where the Phillies are familiar with winning and scoring plenty of runs. Hopefully that trend carries over to this year. I personally love the 2-3-2 matchup. If the Phillies can grab a split in San Diego at the very least I would think they guarantee a return trip to California unless they win it in 5.
The Phillies were 8 games under .500 on May 31st. Two of the last 3 World Series Champions followed similar paths. The Braves were under .500 in July of 2021 as were the Nationals of 2019. This years Phillies actually got on the right track to winning faster than those other NL East teams.
The atmosphere at Citizens Bank Park this weekend was absolutely electric. The fan base made a huge difference in the outcome. I spoke to Braves players on Saturday before Game 4 who told me that they never had experienced noise like that. Bullpen guys said they found it very “annoying”. Phillies fans, you made a huge difference! Bravo!
It’s going to be an amazing week and I can’t wait to share in it with you!
Oh, beat the Cowboys!
