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The Arrowhead

The Arrowhead

The Student News Site of Souderton Area High School

The Arrowhead

The Student News Site of Souderton Area High School

The Arrowhead

The Arrowhead

The Philadelphia Phillies will make the 2021 playoffs: Here’s why

Because of bad teams, the Phillies haven’t made the postseason since 2011. This year, on the back of right fielder Bryce Harper, that streak will likely come to an end.

Because of bad teams, the Phillies haven’t made the postseason since 2011. This year, on the back of right fielder Bryce Harper, that streak will likely come to an end.
The Phillies bullpen was the worst bullpen in the league in 2020, and may have cost the Phillies a playoff spot last year. The Phillies front office knew this, and signed pitchers Archie Bradley and Jose Alvarado to help the team hopefully earn a playoff spot in 2021.
Just like it was for most of the world, 2020 was a bad year for the Phillies.
In the year of COVID-19, the team missed the playoffs again. The last time the Phillies made the playoffs was 2011.
The Phillies’s bullpen had a 7.06 ERA, which was the second worst in the history of major league baseball.
This caused the front office to make some major changes, which were needed for the team to improve enough to make the playoffs this year.
First, they fired former general manager Matt Klentak who had made some horrible decisions.
Klentak was the person that thought it was a good idea to construct the bullpen the same way it was last year because he signed relief pitchers including Francisco Liriano, Bud Norris, Anthony Swarzak and Drew Storen. They were all released before the season even started.
Next, Andy Mcphail, who was the President of Baseball Operations, stepped down.
That all led to the Phillies’ current president, David Dobroski, getting hired. This was possibly one of the things that saved the Phillies.
Dombrowski is a proven winner, having won two World Series titles, one with the Marlins in 1997 and one with the Red Sox in 2018.
Dombrowski, somehow, after rumors of the team not spending money to improve in the offseason, convinced the rest of the front office to do just that, and resigned JT Realmuto, the Phillies star catcher, and shortstop Didi Gregorious, along with other great signings like relief pitchers Jose Alverado, Archie Bradly, Tony Watson and Brandon Kintzler.
That will definitely help out the bullpen.
He also secured starters like left-hander Matt Moore, who had a 2.65 ERA in 2020 with 98 strikeouts.
The offense was elite last year. They had a .250 batting average and a .324 on base percentage, or OBP for short, which was the ninth best in the league.
In spring training, and yes, it is only spring training, the team has looked great.
Jose Alverado has thrown over 100 mph multiple times and as of this writing, has not allowed a run.
Bryce Harper is hitting homers almost regularly. The bullpen looks solid. The starting rotation looks solid.
But, the Phillies’ division is going to be tough this year. The race to get to the playoffs will not be easy. In the Phillies division, the Mets added the best shortstop in the game, in my opinion, Francisco Lindor, the Braves made the playoffs last year, and look set to repeat.
Teams like the Padres will be duking it out with the Dodgers this year for first place in the NL West in 2021 and one of those two teams will almost certainly earn one of the two wild card spots.
In the end, the signings that the Phillies made, on top of one of the better offenses in all of baseball will help the team make the playoffs. Elite starters like Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler, and hopefully a breakout season from the Phillies third starter in the rotation, Zack Eflin, will also bring October baseball to the city of Philadelphia this year.

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