By the skin of their teeth, the Philadelphia Phillies made it into the playoffs. Many expected they’d maybe take a game against the St. Louis Cardinals. Instead, they swept them in two.
Against the Atlanta Braves in the NLDS, most people figured the same thing they did against the Cardinals—the Phillies would be a punching bag. Nope. Once again, the Phillies won close games and ones with a little more authority.
They’ve received contributions from a variety of players. In the NLCS against the San Diego Padres— a team that had similar expectations once they got to the postseason — it’s these three members of the Phillies roster who are most important.
1) The Philadelphia Phillies’ most important player in the NLCS: Bryce Harper
Well, duh! Is there anyone on the Phillies that will appear in every game and actually have the ability to carry the team as much as the reigning National League MVP? Because Bryce Harper wasn’t able to play nearly as much in this year’s regular season, he appears eager to help out a little bit more in the playoffs.
Most are already familiar with the “Harper-hatred” about how he had never won a postseason series coming into 2022. So far, he’s two for two with the Philadelphia Phillies, and he has been a huge contributor.
Harper heads into the NLCS 10 for 23 with three home runs. He’s doing exactly what the team needs him to do. In his first trip to the playoffs since joining the Phillies, he’s completely rewriting his reputation.
The Philadelphia Phillies are getting some huge and long hits from a variety of players in the playoffs. Harper is doing it more frequently than anyone. Continuing this rampage could be the biggest difference of all against San Diego.
2) The Philadelphia Phillies’ second most important player in the NLCS: Aaron Nola
We can make Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler share a spot. But in reference to what we have seen so far in the playoffs, the Phillies have proven Nola is the more important pitcher for success. Wheeler has pitched amazingly well, but he is 0-1, while Nola has 12.2 shutout innings. We pretty much know what we’ll get from Wheeler. Nola is the bigger mystery.
However, if postseason Nola is anything like he has been in two starts against two teams with better records in the regular season and more potent offenses than San Diego, Nola should be at his best. As long as his brother, Austin, on the Padres doesn’t reveal all of his secrets, our expectations for the longtime Phillies pitcher should be raised.
By winning both of Nola’s starts, the Phillies have picked up a guy who was snuffed out from a much better regular season. At 11-13 with a 3.25 ERA, no pitcher should own the best walk/strikeout ratio and have such a low ERA yet a losing record.
The offense and even the bullpen have helped out. From the relief corps, Nola’s mission should be to rely on them as little as possible. Give the team seven strong innings, and the bats will supply a couple of runs. A two-inning performance in a non-save situation from Connor Brogdon sounds like a nice way to end his next start.
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.
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.