What we learned from the Philadelphia Phillies opening series sweep

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Well, that was a fun weekend! The Philadelphia Phillies opened the season by sweeping out the Atlanta Braves at home this weekend, displaying clutch hitting moments and overall dominant pitching.

The first thing to remind ourselves is that this is just the beginning of a marathon of a season, with 159 games remaining. There will be series like this one, and there will be some series where we take the Braves’ position. However, the team looks tired of being counted out and is ready to prove some people wrong.

Let’s take a look at what we saw and learned over the first three games of the season:

We learned two main things from the Philadelphia Phillies opening sweep.

Firstly, this pitching staff could be a problem. Not for us, but for every other team in the league. Aaron Nola, Zack Wheeler, and Zach Eflin looked untouchable, combining for 20 ⅔ innings pitched, three earned runs, 11 hits, just one walk, and 24 strikeouts(!!!). Nola looked like the Aaron Nola we hope to get back on a consistent basis this year, cruising through the Braves lineup with ease, until just one mistake which resulted in a game-tying two-run home run by Pablo Sandoval. Other than that one pitch, Nola came out firing on Opening Day to strike hope into the Phillies team.

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Zack Wheeler threw perhaps the most impressive game of the weekend, and maybe his career. He struck out 10 while allowing just one hit and no runs. Wheeler located his fastball with complete efficiency on Saturday, which allowed the opportunity to attack hitters with his offspeed pitches when necessary.

Location will be the key with Wheeler this year, as a consistently controlled fastball will open up every other pitch he has. We could be at the beginning of watching a really special year from Wheeler. And on top of that, he can hit too!

Zach Eflin, perhaps under the most pressure of these three pitchers, did not disappoint in his season debut. He struck out eight on four hits, and like Nola, made just one mistake which resulted in a game-tying home run. Other than that, Eflin was effective, painting corners and inducing swings and misses against a Braves offense that looked inept all weekend. Eflin is hyped up to take a huge step in his career this year, and it looks like he is ready for the challenge.

My PTSD had me on edge whenever the starters were lifted in all of these games, but to my surprise and comfort, the bullpen was fantastic this weekend. Hector Neris looked good returning to the role of closer, albeit a scary 9th inning on Sunday afternoon. Jose Alvarado, despite clearly not having total control of his pitches, was able to overpower some of the Braves hitters and make them look silly with that big, sweeping slider. Archie Bradley gave up zero hits in just over an inning of work, and Connor Brogdon also gave up zero hits in his one inning of work on Thursday.

The biggest piece of the puzzle this year is the improvements that the bullpen needed to make. While three games is not nearly enough of a sample size, I liked what I saw from the new and improved Phillies bullpen. They pitched through high stress situations and played smart to get out of them. That will be the key to the Phillies returning to the playoffs.

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