The Philadelphia Phillies benefitted from 2 major MLB rule changes this year
By Tim Boyle
Nobody expected the Philadelphia Phillies, the last team to make the playoffs this year, to make it this far. In every other past season, they would have been eliminated in the regular season. MLB’s rule change of adding playoff spots for a sixth team in each league to make it allowed Philadelphia the benefit to get this far.
It doesn’t deserve an asterisk. The Phillies played by the rules, and they benefited from it.
But it’s not the only rule change in Major League Baseball that has helped the Phillies a ton this year. Equally as important, a rule that affected all 30 MLB teams gave the Phillies a shot.
The Philadelphia Phillies took advantage of having a DH in the National League this season.
Without the DH at their disposal, where would the Phillies have finished? They built their team around the luxury of having a strong bat without a glove in the lineup. It’s one of the huge reasons why they didn’t hesitate to sign Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos. Each night, one of them would be a DH.
Things didn’t work out as planned, though. An early season injury to Bryce Harper forced them to use their star right fielder and reigning National League MVP in the DH spot for almost the entire year—at least when he was healthy.
Unable to play defense whatsoever for almost the entire 2022 season, Harper has been relegated to DH duties. He might have tried to force himself to play under different circumstances. He never had to. The universal DH came in and saved the day.
Harper has taken advantage of this MLB rule change. He’s hitting .419/.444/.907 in the postseason with 5 home runs and 11 RBIs. He has been absolutely clutch for the Phillies, never more so than in Game 5 of the NLCS when he hit a two-run home run to give his team the lead and secure them a chance at the World Series.
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Although it’s the rule change that allowed more teams into the postseason, which made this opportunity available, the Philadelphia Phillies would have never stood a chance if not for being able to use Harper as the designated hitter all year.