Slugfest In Philadelphia As Phillies Flex Their Muscles - NLCS Game 2 Recap!
The bats break out in Philadelphia on another huge night at Citizens Bank Park...
Home runs really do equal success in the playoffs.
Just look at the Philadelphia Phillies if you don’t believe me.
They are slugging their way to absolute dominance, especially at their own ballpark, and they may end up mashing their way to World Series glory the way things are going.
This offense is red-hot and they are rolling thanks to the long ball.
Don’t just stop there, either.
The home run has been key to success overall so far this postseason. Just check out these stats from the excellent Sarah Langs of MLB.com…
Teams to out-homer opponents are 17-2 (it was 22-6 in the 2022 playoffs)
A sizable 52.1% of runs have been scored via home run (41.0% of runs in the regular season were scored via the home run, while 46.8% of runs were scored via HR in the 2022 playoffs)
Chicks dig the long ball and so do Philly sports fans right now. The Phillies are a heck of a fun team to watch, and their ability to go yard often is fueling yet another epic postseason run.
Without wasting any more time, let’s dive right into the NLCS Game 2 action from Tuesday night…
NLCS GAME 2 RECAP
Arizona Diamondbacks (0-2) 0-10 Philadelphia Phillies (2-0)
Per Sarah Langs, teams to score first this postseason are 19-7.
The ability to come out swinging has been the key behind this October of dominance for the Philadelphia Phillies.
They are landing blows early and often, being aggressive and wasting no time in causing absolute destruction.
It’s almost as if I’m talking about Philadelphia’s most famous son, Rocky. He wasn’t afraid to come out launching absolute haymakers from the first bell, and the Phillies have taken note of the Rocky Balboa playbook through the first two games of the National League Championship Series.
After leading off Game 1 with a solo shot, Kyle Schwarber replicated that success and then some with a pair of homers. Both blasts came at critical times in the game, in the bottom of the third inning and in the sixth, giving the Phillies a 3-0 lead after Trea Turner had got the party started in the first with his third homer of the series.
By the way, time to give Turner some serious flowers. The shortstop is currently hitting .500/.559/.967/.1.526 in eight games and 34 plate appearances this postseason.
Holy heck, that is damn impressive.
I don’t even think there are enough superlatives on this planet that can do justice to what Turner is currently doing at the plate.
He’s hitting homers in key spots - as evidenced by his 421 ft moon shot on Tuesday - he’s putting the ball in play and he’s 15-for-30 with three homers, eight extra-base hits, four stolen bases and eight runs scored.
Yep, nobody is doing what Turner is doing offensively right now. And on the biggest possible stage too. And never let it be forgotten just how hard hitting .500 in baseball is. It is rarer than rare, yet here Turner is hitting .500 and helping to drive this explosive Phillies offense.
If Turner keeps this up, not only will his slow start in Philadelphia be all but erased from the history books, but he’ll probably be given the freedom of the city too. Especially if he helps brings a World Series to The City Of Brotherly Love.
There are also very few words that can do justice to how insanely potent this offense is as a whole.
This Phillies lineup is hotter than the insides of peak Mount Vesuvius right now. Way hotter than that, actually, but you get the picture. Not only is the offense clubbing their way to what now seems a likely conclusion in October glory, but they are smashing records every single step of the way too. Brace yourself, because there’s a lot of heady home-run related achievements coming your way.
But, first, aside from the three homers, the Phillies got big-time contributions from up and down their lineup. J.T. Realmuto, Brandon Marsh and Alec Bohm all doubled to send runners home, while Realmuto drove in another runner with a single and a Nick Castellanos sac fly scored Bryson Stott to put up the 10-spot. Yep, this lineup is just all-time freaking awesome and here’s some stats to back up that heady statement.
Let’s start with this one; through eight games, the Phillies have outscored the Marlins, Braves and Diamondbacks 46-13. That plus-33 run differential is the biggest in history for any team over any eight games of any postseason. In that same span, the Phillies have outhomered the Marlins, Braves and D-Backs 19-4. No other team in baseball history has outhomered their opponents by 15 home runs over any eight-game span in a postseason. And, the Phillies have outhomered those same three teams 17-2 in JUST SIX POSTSEASON HOME GAMES! You won’t be surprised to learn that, yes, that is also a record.
But, wait, there’s more!
Each of Philadelphia’s past 13 home runs have come without anyone on base, which marks the longest stretch of solo homers in postseason history. The 16 home runs clubbed in the last five games is the most by any team in playoff history in a five-game span.
The 2023 Phillies are now in the same rarified air as the 2008 Rays in being the only two teams in postseason season to go yard at least three times in four consecutive games. Now outhomering their opponents 19-4, the Phillies boast a plus-15 run differential - the largest mark in a single postseason.
To put this into further context, the Phillies now have four individual multi-homer games (Nick Castellanos twice, Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber), which is tied for an MLB postseason record with the ‘09 Phillies (Chase Utley and Jayson Werth, twice each) and the ‘02 Angels (Troy Glaus twice, Tim Salmon and Adam Kennedy). Plus, Philadelphia as a team now owns a .574 slugging percentage in the postseason. Only five players slugged at that kind of insane level throughout the regular season - Shohei Ohtani, Corey Seager, Matt Olson, Ronald Acũna Jr. and Mookie Betts.
Wait, I lied, I’m not done yet. Amazingly, the Phillies are 6-0 at Citizens Bank Park this postseason, and a stellar 28-11 all time. That stretches back to when The Bank opened in 2004. That 28-11 mark is the best home record all-time in the postseason (min. 20 games). They have only sent six hitters to the plate while trailing in eight postseason games. Another historic postseason record ticked off.
Oh, and after being absolutely shelled on Tuesday, the Diamondbacks saw their streak of 46 consecutive postseason games without being shut out well and truly snapped. Per the excellent baseball-reference.com, the Minnesota Twins hold the active longest streak having gone 67 games without being shutout in the playoffs.
Quick word on Kyle Schwarber. The slugger failed to hit a home run in the Phillies’ first six postseason games. He now has three homers in his past two games, and 18 overall in his postseason career. Why is that significant? Great question. Schwarber’s 18 playoff bombs are tied for the seventh most in MLB history, joining Carlos Correa, Nelson Cruz, Reggie Jackson and Micky Mantle. Yes, Schwarber is wreaking the same kind of damage in the postseason as the great, iconic, legendary Micky Mantle. Just think about that for a second. Schwarber has now homered in five straight League Championship Series - which is pretty special in itself - and only one player in postseason history has more career home runs in the LCS than Schwarber’s 10, and that’s the great Manny Ramirez with 13.
Philadelphia is absolutely teeing off on all-comers right now, and the offense is so unstoppable right now it may as well be called the Grim Reaper. No matter what you do, this lineup is going to bash your face in and kill you eventually. There’s no escape.
It is pretty much gospel at this point.
As historically potent as this steaming, red-hot, all-powerful, all-conquering, relentless lineup is right now, it would be rude of me not to toss some praise Aaron Nola’s way before we move on. The veteran was untouchable yet again in Game 2, throwing six scoreless innings while allowing just three hits and striking out seven. His lethal combination of sinkers and curveballs absolutely perplexed an Arizona lineup that has been explosive in its own right this postseason, while always being good for grinding out tough at-bats.
Nola is now 3-0 with a sparkling 0.96 ERA in three starts this postseason. He’s allowed just two measly runs in 18 2/3 innings, while striking out 19 and walking two. Those are elite, elite, elite numbers. And it puts Nola in rarified air alongside John Smoltz of the Braves (1991) and Cliff Lee of the Rangers (2001) as the only pitchers to match or exceed those marks in any three-game span in a single postseason. Not only that, but Nola has given up zero earned runs in half of his eight career postseason starts while going six innings and more in all four of those starts. That’s insane.
With Zack Wheeler and Nola forming a lethal two-headed monster atop the rotation, a workmanlike bullpen that gets the job done and an historically volcanic-hot offense, I really don’t see how this Phillies team will be stopped. Of course, in a Best-of-Seven series, we’re only a small way through the overall story with the ending yet to be written. But, with everything we’ve seen from this team throughout the postseason so far, I become more and more convinced by the day that a World Series could be in this team’s very, very near future.
Let’s now get you set for the one game we have on Wednesday…
Coming Up
Houston Astros (0-2) At Texas Rangers (2-0) - 8:03 P.M. ET (FS1)
RHP Cristian Javier, Houston (1-0, 0.00 ERA) - RHP Max Scherzer, Texas (13-6, 3.77 ERA)
The biggest and main storyline heading into Game 3 of the ALCS is the return of Max Scherzer, obviously. The future Hall of Famer will get the start on Wednesday for Texas, in what will be the veteran ace’s first game in more than a month due to a muscle strain. Look, the Rangers went all out at the Trade Deadline to acquire Scherzer from the New York Mets for moments like this. Scherzer is built for the biggest stage, and even an average Scherzer outing may be enough for this team in Game 3. Of course, Scherzer has had an up-and-down couple of years but, if he can give Texas four or five innings while not giving up any more than two or three runs, that will be considered a successful night at the office. Especially when you trust this Rangers offense to do what it has been doing all postseason long. This is obviously just a behemoth of a game in Arlington; if Houston wins then we have ourselves a series but, if the Rangers improve to 7-0 in the playoffs and take a 3-0 lead in this series, then it is all but game over barring a sensational collapse. All the pressure will be on the Astros heading into Game 3, and that will work in Texas’ favor. Oh, another couple of things to look out for - José Leclerc has closed out each of the Rangers’ seven playoff wins, so expect him to do the same in Game 3 if given the opportunity, and Astros superstar, not-human, destroyer of baseballs Yordan Alvarez joins Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton as the only players to hit six homers in the first six games of a postseason. Don’t be at all surprised if Alvarez blasts one off Scherzer to make it seven long balls in seven games. The way Alvarez is just crushing balls at the plate, there is just simply no stopping that.
That’s all for today.
I’ll be back on Thursday with a full recap of Game 3 of the ALCS, as well as a preview of Game 4, and Game 3 in the NLCS.
Oh, and we’re getting closer to launching our new-look website! The aim is by the weekend, so keep an eye out for that.
Until then…
