Philadelphia Phillies: The 3 most important players in the NLCS

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ATLANTA, GEORGIA – OCTOBER 11: Ranger Suarez #55 of the Philadelphia Phillies celebrates striking out Travis d’Arnaud #16 of the Atlanta Braves while the bases are loaded during the third inning in game one of the National League Division Series at Truist Park on October 11, 2022 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images) /

3) The Philadelphia Phillies’ third most important player in the NLCS: Ranger Suárez

The Phillies can win without Ranger Suárez pitching well. Imagine if he is unhittable against the Padres. Then what?

Suárez flirted with danger in his one postseason start this year. He didn’t last long enough to win the game, but the Phillies were victorious. He’ll have a shot against the Padres for some redemption.

The regular season saw Suárez go 10-7 with a 3.65 ERA. It’s a little deceptive to think of him as this type of pitcher through and through. If not for a strong finish, he would have been a little more average. Fortunately, the lefty was often successful in the latter part of the year.

The third starter in a playoff rotation is pretty important. If we consider the top two starters on either team evenly matched enough, the number three guy will take the mound to begin what then becomes a best-of-five series.

The Padres certainly have arms that can compete alongside what the Phillies have. Yu Darvish, Blake Snell, and Joe Musgrove compare closely to Wheeler, Nola, and Suárez. The one thing they have far more than the Phillies arms is experience. Darvish and Snell bring a lot of playoff innings with them to this series.

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Suárez is fully capable of beating any of those three. Of course, it’ll take some help from the bats and maybe a few more outs from the bullpen than we would like.

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