Are the Phillies Actually The 6th Best Lineup In The MLB?

ESPN recently ranked the top 10 lineups in baseball. Some Phillies fans were shocked to see their team come in at 6th. Having watched some of the issues this lineup has for 2.5 months, it was confusing to see them ranked so high. Our own Morning Show, Kincade & Salciunas, talked about it. Both Andrew and John thought 6 was way too high for them. Connor, on the other hand, thought 6th made sense.

But does it? Are they still a top lineup despite their flaws? Are we so hyper-focused on what is wrong with the Phillies that we ignore that other teams have flaws? Or is the National media not paying close enough attention to the issues this Phillies lineup has?

I will admit, I expected the Phillies to come in outside the top 10. Watching this lineup in action, they do not feel like a borderline top 10 lineup. But we do not pay as close attention to the other 29 teams as we pay to the Phillies. Perhaps in the context of the 30 MLB lineups, they are close to being a top-5 team.

The Phillies are a team making good contact, getting on base, stealing bases, and putting the ball in play. But the power numbers leave a ton to be desired. Not just the lack of homeruns, but the lack of extra base hits in general. Not having Bryce Harper plays a part in that, but they have little to no pop from the right-hand side.

This is kind of what we asked for. After multiple years of them being home run or bust, people begged the Phillies for more small ball. The problem is now they are all small ball. Their entire offense is stringing singles together. They went from one extreme to the other.

They are still scoring runs at a decent clip. 7th in the league is not good enough to win a World Series, but it is a sign that them being 6th is not way off base. Still, this is not exactly a scary lineup right now. Schwarber is the only guy you can see opposing pitchers being afraid of. Getting Harper back, hopefully healthy, will help. But they lacked pop even when he was in the lineup.

By the way, because this is often a sticking point, the Phillies are 9th in the league in BA with runners in scoring position. Not terrible, but still not good enough if you want to win it all. Especially for a team relying on singles right now, they need to get more hits when they have runners on 2nd or 3rd.

If we are going to say they should be moved down, you have to make the case that other teams should be ahead of them. So let's look at the other teams in the top 10 that they beat out.

The Tigers came in at 7. The Tigers are 10th in HRs and 13th in doubles. Not exactly crushing the ball either. They are also 11th in AVG, and 12th in OBP. They are also only 8th in BA with RISP. But they have scored slightly more runs than the Phillies.

At 8 were the Blue Jays. They are 16th in the league in runs. The Athletics, ranked 9th, are 13th in runs. The Cardinals at 10 are 9th in runs. The Red Sox came in at 11, and have scored more runs than the Phillies, but they also just traded away their best hitter.

So I could maybe make the case of moving the Phillies down to 7, with the Tigers above them, based only what we have seen this year. But this Phillies lineup, despite what people think, is also more proven in the playoffs. Yes, they have gone ice cold, but the lineup has also at times looked fantastic in the playoffs. Balancing what we have seen this year, with what we know from past seasons, ranking the Phillies over the Tigers is easy to argue.

The truth is, there are a lot of flawed lineups. Even one of the teams ranked ahead of them, the Mets, are outside of the top 10 in runs. I have no problem ranking the Mets above the Phillies. You look at the top of their lineup, and it is scary. But then you get to the back and it has as many holes as the Phillies lineup. Are you worried about Brett Baty or Mark Vientos? What about Luisangel Acuna, Tyrone Taylor, or Starling Marte? All of those guys are weak links so far.

The Dodgers seem to have a complete lineup. Michael Conforto is really the only hole they have. Yankees are pretty deep too. But there are a lot of flawed lineups. Likewise, the Cubs' lineup has mostly been good from top to bottom. After those 3, there are a lot of flawed lineups though.

The Phillies lineup certainly has its flaws. Stott and Realmuto are blackholes. Marsh, Bohm, and Kepler have hit better recently, but I don't exactly trust them. Even still, they are 7th in runs scored for a reason.

They need more pop, specifically from the right side. It is nice that they are being more patient and putting the ball in play more. But the best lineups see those balls in play go over, or at least off the fence.

All of that said, I don't think it is crazy to put them at 6th. You could even put them at 5 over the Mets. Because, as flawed as they are, they are not the only team with glaring problems.

If they want to beat the Dogders or Yankees, the lineup needs to be better. This is not me saying they are great. It is me acknowledging that there are a lot of flawed teams, with only a few real standouts.

With this rotation, maybe the 6th-best lineup is good enough. But the bullpen could easily ruin a good night from Zack Wheeler in the playoffs. So they are going to need to score more runs.

Getting another bat will be key for the Phillies if they want to really contend. With that said, they are still one of the best lineups in baseball. Even if that is only by default because of how many bad or mediocre lineups there are right now.