How the Philadelphia Phillies can beat the San Diego Padres in the NLCS
By Tim Boyle
The number five and six seeds in the National League postseason are set to play each other in the NLCS. The Philadelphia Phillies versus San Diego Padres for the pennant isn’t what anyone imagined. It’s how things turned out, and all of Philadelphia is eager to get things started and take down a team that was barely better than them in the regular season.
The Phillies and Padres are comparable teams in some ways. Each has a rotation built for the postseason, with some great arms at the front and questionable ones in the back. Neither bullpen is particularly good except when their shaky closers are sharp—something the Phillies haven’t seen enough of from Seranthony Dominguez and the Padres have failed to see from Josh Hader.
The Phillies and Padres should make for an interesting NLCS. How does Philadelphia come away on top?
The Philadelphia Phillies can beat the Padres even with continued sloppy play
Although on the verge of heading to the finals, the Phillies remain a sloppy baseball team. Defense hasn’t killed them this postseason, although the one game they did lose had us all wishing Rhys Hoskins could be the DH instead.
Philadelphia remains a flawed baseball team, but so are the Padres. None of their starting pitchers are any scarier than what the Phillies can put on the mound. In the regular season, their bullpen combined with having the third-worst WAR of any team in Major League Baseball. There are ways to beat the Padres late, and that’s always important. It may be the best way to get ahold of the Padres—unless the Phillies can score early and often.
It’s no magic Philadelphia needs in the NLCS to take down San Diego. Beating up on the starting pitchers early and getting to a flawed San Diego bullpen is essential. It’s the same strategy the Padres should look at to defeat the Phillies.
One big difference between these two teams is power. The Phillies have a ton of it. They haven’t even put it on full display in the playoffs yet. Kyle Schwarber has been slumping, while Bryce Harper has supplied them with most of their runs.
The Padres lineup is no group of Triple-A players. Trent Grisham is has been their top performer, but Aaron Nola’s brother Austin Nola is hitting tremendously well, and there’s always a threat of Juan Soto, Josh Bell, and others getting hot. Manny Machado is never easy to face either.
San Diego has taken down the New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers in back-to-back series. Arguably an even tougher road than what the Philadelphia Phillies had in having to play the St. Louis Cardinals and Atlanta Braves, this is a battle of underdog teams with high payrolls, good starting pitching, and a pair of bullpens that can get blasted to pieces.
Next. Three concerns going into the NLCS. dark
Even if only a single game comes down to whose bullpen holds off the other, it could end up as a deciding factor. Score early, score often, and get past Yu Darvish, Blake Snell, and Joe Musgrove as quickly as possible. Tire them out. Beat them the way they can beat you.