As soon as the most popular workforce in baseball, the Philadelphia Phillies have struggled mightily currently. Following one other collection loss, concern is shortly turning into full-blown panic, and the upcoming stretch of video games stands out as the final probability for a turnaround.
After dropping three of 4 to the defending Nationwide League champion Arizona Diamondbacks, the Phillies have misplaced seven of their final eight collection.
Nevertheless, salvation could also be right here with a six-game homestand towards NL East basement dwellers, the Miami Marlins (44-75) and the Washington Nationals (54-65).
Regardless of the current stoop, Philadelphia is 9-4 towards the Marlins and Nationals this season. Whereas that presents a golden alternative to proper the ship, capitalizing is one other story.
The Phillies have dropped 17 of their final 25 video games and have not appeared good doing it on the mound or on the plate. They have been outscored by opponents 111-144 over that stretch, whereas the Diamondbacks greater than doubled them up in runs (30-14) throughout their most up-to-date collection.
Likewise, stars like Bryce Harper aren’t producing sufficient. Since July 19, the All-Star first baseman is batting simply .232 (23-of-99, six residence runs, 14 RBI).
In the meantime, pitching has additionally been a difficulty for Philadelphia. Together with a leaky and unreliable bullpen, ace Aaron Nola is 0-4 over his final 4 begins, recording a 3.97 ERA in 22.2 innings of labor.
Issues could solely worsen if the Phillies’ struggles proceed towards the Marlins and Nationals. After the six-game stint at Residents Financial institution Park, Philadelphia will hit the street for three-game units towards the Atlanta Braves (61-56) and the Kansas Metropolis Royals (65-52) earlier than returning residence for 3 video games towards the Houston Astros (62-55) and 4 extra essential matchups with the Braves.
The Braves aren’t taking part in a lot better, having misplaced three of their final 10 video games, remaining 7.5 video games behind the tempo within the NL East. Nevertheless, it is onerous to seek out an MLB workforce that has been laboring greater than the Phillies for the reason that All-Star break (7-15), as solely the lowly Chicago White Sox (1-20) have a worse report.
