With 100 Phillies Games To Go, History Awaits, But Does It Indicate Good Things?
The Phillies 43-19 record after their extra-inning win on Tuesday night against the Brewers sets them up for great regular season success. It will most likely deliver a historic win total that should put them in the conversation of the best Phillies season ever.
Now I’m one to say that the “best” Phillies seasons ever were 2008 and 1980 without debate. October success means a lot more to me than bragging on regular season win totals. How crazy is this Phillies start? Let’s compare!
The starting premise
With 100 games to play and 43 wins already accumulated, playing just .500 ball the rest of the way would bring home 93 wins. That doesn’t seem like a huge total but it would be better than the 87 wins they had in 2022 and the 90 wins they grabbed in 2023.
We all know that the postseason was when they raised their level of play so any win total in 2024 will come with an expectation of playoff success. What would 93 wins mean? It would be a win total only eclipsed five times in the history of the franchise. So how did those five teams do?
The 1993 Phillies (97-65)
The only regular season of my fandom that reminds me of this one was that 1993 season. The team got off to an amazing start and grabbed the attention of all of Major League Baseball. They weren’t expected to do anything, contrary to the high expectations of this year’s squad.
That Phillies team started out (45-17) which is two games ahead of this year’s pace. That team finished out their last 100 games (48-52) but went on to win the NLCS over the Braves before losing in six games to the Toronto Blue Jays.
The 2010 Phillies (97-65)
That year’s team didn’t start out that impressively. In fact, they were struggling after appearing in the World Series the previous two seasons. Their (32-30) start was a huge disappointment. What would come is a summer of incredible dominance.
They went (65-35) in their final 100 and cruised to a fourth consecutive NL East championship. What followed was a soul crushing loss to the San Francisco Giants in the NLCS which was the second step down the ladder after their 2008 championship.
The 1976 Phillies (101-61)
The first of three consecutive NL East championships would be jump-started by a (44-18) start to the season. The team cooled off a lot along their final 100 games as they went (57-43) to close out. A three game sweep by the Cincinnati Reds awaited them in the NLCS.
It was just the beginning, but they felt the sting of a great regular season fizzling out in just a few days. They still would come right back the next season as one of the league’s best teams.
The 1977 Phillies (101-61)
That years team was fresh off a loss in the NLCS the previous season but hardly started out on a mission. They were (34-28) and then rampaged to an amazing (67-33) mark to match the 1976 win total.
What appeared to be a team built for a title failed to deliver. They won a post-season game this time around but still dropped the NLCS in four games to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The 2011 Phillies (102-60)
In 2011 the four aces were supposed to help the Phillies stop the slide of losing the World Series in 2009 and the NLCS in 2010. They began (37-25) and won a fifth consecutive NL East championship.
In their final 100 games they terrorized the opposition going (64-36) and appeared to be the best team in the Phillies run. Unfortunately it ended in a horrible loss to the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLDS in five games with Ryan Howard tearing his Achilles tendon in the final at bat. It was an omen of the bad luck that was to come over the next ten seasons.
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The All-Time Lineup Of Phillies Bench Players
2B- Tomas Perez
The early 2000s was not the best era for the Phillies. It was far from the worst, but there was not much going on in terms of winning. But Super Utility Man Tomas Perez quickly became a fan favorite.
He had every thing Philly fans love in a player. Most notably, heart and effort. He was a bright spot in that era. He was not strictly a 2nd baseman, but with Jimmy cementing himself as the SS in that era, he played a lot of 2nd. Wherever he played, he won the hearts and minds on Philadelphia, and earned a spot on this list.
3B- Greg Dobbs
Dobbs has 330 fewer Pinch Hit plate appearances than the Phillies all-time leader. Despite that huge gap, he is only 6 off of having the most pinch hit RBIs in franchise history.
In 2007 he lead the league in pinch hit RBIs. He followed that up by hitting .355 the next year and leading the league with 22 pinch hits.
His career after 2008 went downhill, but he was a pretty important part of the 2007 and 2008 teams.
(Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images)
