3 Bold Predictions For The Phillies Season

Baseball is finally back. The Phillies open up their season this week on Thursday.

Hopes for the Phillies are a bit down this season. 3 straight disappointing exits have soured the fanbase on this Phillies core, especially when there were not a ton of changes. It has been the same story for 3 straight years, so it is easy to understand fans having doubts

There are reasons to be excited. This team was very good in the regular season. Justin Crawford and Andrew Painter are making their debuts. The starting rotation is loaded as ever.

Will things go better in October? Impossible to say. But we can still enjoy the regular season. With that said, here are 3 bold predictions for what might happen in the season.

As always, the strength of this Phillies team is their pitching. For some reason, there was some worrying from fans and media about this starting rotation. Zack Wheeler is recovering from a blood clot, Aaron Nola is coming off the worst season of his career, and Andrew Painter struggled in his first season back from Tommy John.

But Cristopher Sanchez is a bona fide Ace. Jesus Luzardo seems poised to take a massive jump this year. And Wheeler is progressing as well as anyone could have hoped for. I don't think I will get much pushback saying those 3 will have a Sub 4.0 ERA.

Nola and Painter are a bit of a leap. Nola is coming off a year where his ERA eclipsed 6.0. Painter's ERA in AAA eclipsed 5.0.

But there is a real reason to believe Nola was injured. He spent a large portion of the season on the IL. His velocity dipped, and even worse, his control vanished. Butt in Spring /the WBC, he looked more like the guy we saw in 2024. As for Painter, it's not unusual for a guy who underwent Tommy John and missed 2 seasons to struggle with his command. His stuff and command looked much better in Spring.

Both guys are going to bounce back this season. Maybe not with ace-like stuff, but enough to keep their ERA under 4.0. This Phillies rotation is going to be strong from top to bottom this season, with no weak links. I even considered throwing Taijuan Walker in this and say 6 starters with a sub 4.0 ERA. But that is probably pushing it, and he will ideally only make a handful of starts.

Crawford is the Phillies' everyday outfielder. He is going to play a lot of games. At the bottom of the line-up, his protection is going to be Trea Turner, Kyle Schwarber, and Bryce Harper, meaning he will get pitches to hit. And we know with his speed, if he gets on base, he will rack up steals.

All of that is a recipe for him to get a lot of love for Rookie Of The Year. He won't have many HRs, which might hurt his case. But he can make up for that with great defense, steals, and doubles.

It is a tough, crowded race for NL Rookie of the Year. But it being so open might help a dark horse, like Crawford, sneak in.

I am going to say he has 30+ steals, 20+ doubles, and to get really bold, he scores over 100 runs. There will be a lot of chances for him to get knocked in if he keeps batting 9th. Especially if he can get himself in scoring position as often as many think he can.

There is one thing clearly missing on this team, and it has been missing since they lost Rhys Hoskins. A RH power bat. They brought in Adolis Garcia, but he is more of a reclamation project than an answer to that need. What they need is a righty who can crush 30ish HRs, and that guy is not on this team or in the organization. (Aidan Miller can maybe become that one day, but certainly not right now.)

The past few deadlines, their splash was bullpen help. As of now, it does not look like they will need any bullpen help. Their bullpen has a chance to be the best in baseball and goes at least 5 deep, maybe more. They certainly don't need to make a splash in the rotation. If there is a splash, it will be for a bat.

I can see Garcia having a nice season. But it is tough to see him getting back to who he was in 2023. I think 25 Hrs is fair. Come July, the Phillies will likely know they need more pop from the right side, and just more pop in general. So they will go out and get something. Maybe Taylor Ward, maybe Byron Buxton. It is tough to say who will be available. But they will go out and get one of the top RH bats available at the deadline.