{"id":37025,"date":"2020-08-20T11:10:57","date_gmt":"2020-08-20T15:10:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonbaseball.com\/?p=37025"},"modified":"2020-08-20T11:10:57","modified_gmt":"2020-08-20T15:10:57","slug":"philadelphia-phillies-keys-to-winning-wide-open-division","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2020\/08\/20\/philadelphia-phillies-keys-to-winning-wide-open-division\/","title":{"rendered":"Philadelphia Phillies Keys to Winning Wide-Open Division"},"content":{"rendered":"

After it seemed like the Philadelphia Phillies<\/a> had hit rock bottom in an abysmal sweep by the Baltimore Orioles<\/a>, a four-game win streak got them right back in the thick of things. Despite falling to the Boston Red Sox<\/a> on Wednesday, August 19, the Phillies remain just two games back of the first-place Atlanta Braves<\/a> at 9-10. There are several major reasons to point towards the Phillies revival.<\/p>\n

Bryce Harper Is in MVP Form<\/h3>\n

Bryce Harper<\/strong><\/a> entered play on Wednesday in the top-five in baseball in five of the most important offensive statistics. Batting average (4th), on-base percentage (1st), stolen bases (tied-3rd), slugging percentage (5th), and OPS (2nd). With a current slash line of .349\/.474\/.667 it’s clear that Harper is in his 2015 MVP form. J.T. Realmuto<\/strong><\/a> has been on fire since Opening Day, but Harper has really turned it up a level this past week.<\/p>\n

Quality Starting Pitching<\/h3>\n

The big guns Aaron Nola<\/strong><\/a> and Zack Wheeler<\/strong><\/a> have been nothing short of phenomenal to start the 2020 season. Nola is clearly in 2018 form that led to 25 quality starts, a 2.37 ERA, and 9.5 K\/9 placing third in Cy Young<\/strong><\/a> voting. He is currently striking out 12.9 per nine innings with quality starts in three of his four games and a 2.05 ERA. Meanwhile, Wheeler has been everything they paid for with a 2.81 ERA, and three of four quality starts. The interesting part is that he is doing so without the strikeouts this year only whiffing 4.2 per nine.<\/p>\n

Bullpen Sort of Finding Rhythm<\/h3>\n

Everyone knows about the Phillies immense bullpen struggles that have led to the worst ERA in the MLB<\/a>. They still have that embarrassing title by more than two runs, however, they have shown their first bright spots over the past few games. Since getting called up on August 11, Blake Parker<\/strong><\/a> has thrown four and one-thirds scoreless innings striking out seven. The 25-year-old<\/a> Connor Brogdon<\/strong><\/a> got the call-up on the same day and really struggled in his debut. However, on Wednesday, August 19 against the Red Sox he got out of a tough jam with runners on second and third, and no outs. Veteran Adam Morgan<\/strong><\/a> and rookie Ramon Rosso<\/strong><\/a> have looked more comfortable at times this week as well.<\/p>\n

Alec Bohm<\/a> Call-Up<\/h3>\n

The biggest jolt of the week was the Phillies calling up their top prospect and the 31st-best<\/a> according to MLB.com Alec Bohm<\/strong><\/a>. Since the call-up, Bohm has 20 plate appearances and is hitting .353 with six hits, two doubles, and three walks. It appears as though third base is his to run with and he is taking full advantage of it on both sides of the field. His debut week featured two top web gems at the hot corner.<\/p>\n

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Cat-like reflexes. \ud83d\ude40 pic.twitter.com\/KovIk1hplG<\/a><\/p>\n

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) August 19, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n