The Philadelphia Phillies’ offense is off to a historic start
With their fourth straight game with at least five runs and two home runs scored in the books, the Philadelphia Phillies’ offense is off to a historic start.
And in the first game of Bryce Harper‘s first trip back in Washington DC, a contest that felt much more like a home game than a road trip, the Philadelphia Phillies secured their fourth straight win; remaining the only undefeated team in major league baseball.
Now, this four-game streak could ultimately go down as a fluke, as neither the Atlanta Braves or the Washington Nationals look like world beaters, but when examining the stats, it’s hard to put things in perspective after such a fun week.
As things presently stand, the Phillies have five players who have hit at least one home run; Harper and Maikel Franco each with three, Andrew McCutchen with two, and Rhys Hoskins and J.T. Realmuto with one.
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That’s 10 home runs to go with 30 RBIs; both currently tied for the fourth best marks in the league.
But there’s a catch: the Phillies are ranked that high having only played four games so far this season. When you extrapolate the Phillies current average number of HRs (10/4) and RBIs (30/4) per game out over a full 162 game season, you end up with 405 and 1,215 respectively.
If those numbers hold up, the 2019 Phillies would go down as having the most potent offense in baseball history.
The most home runs ever recorded in a single MLB season actually happened last season, when the 2018 New York Yankees hit 267 home runs in 162 games. Conversely, the runs batted in record came over 100 years prior, when the Boston Beaneaters (yes, really) racked up 1,043 all the way back in 1894.
Now I’m not even going to pretend that the Phillies are going to unseat both records in the same season, as that would be a statistical anomaly of almost unquantifiable proportions, but really, the fact that we’re even having this conversation is a testament to Matt Klentak, Gabe Kapler, and the entire Phillies staff.
The Phillies are the best team in baseball for the first time in a decade, and look like they could pretty much beat anyone with a smile on their faces.
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Sure, they had to dish out hundreds of millions of dollars and trade away the guilt of their choice prospects to get it done, but the Philadelphia Phillies now have a roster filled out with eight legitimate offensive options and a few key bench scorers to bolster the lineup on off days. Chasing records, and pennants are just the happy byproducts of building such a potent, balanced team around a dominant corp.