It is currently a social media trend to throw it back to 2016, so it is time to look at the Philadelphia Phillies team revisited from that season. The 2016 Phillies went 71-91, finishing in fourth place in the NL East. Pete Mackanin was in his first full season as the manager after taking over midway through the 2015 season. Due to the resignation of the previous manager, Ryne Sandberg. Sandberg managed the team for one full season and parts of two others.
The front office at the time was led by then-President of Baseball Operations Andy MacPhail and then General Manager Matt Klentak. Both MacPhail and Klentak would be dismissed after the 2020 season. Dave Dombrowski and Sam Fuld, who are both still with the organization, replaced them.
In 2016, the Phillies were in their fourth season of a five-year streak without winning more than 75 games in an individual season. Furthermore, 2016 was also the fourth consecutive season the Phillies finished the year more than 20 games out of first place in the division. In the eight non-shortened seasons since 2016, the Phillies have won at least 80 games in seven of them.
To add to that, in that same span, the Phillies have made the postseason four times. Entering 2016, four seasons had passed without a postseason appearance for the club. The conclusion of the 2016 season marked the midpoint of the Phillies’ postseason drought that went from the 2012 season through the 2021 season. Currently, the team has made the postseason four years in a row after ending the drought in 2022.
2016 Phillies Revisited
Bright Spots in a Disappointing Season
César Hernández and Jeremy Hellickson were players who were bright spots for the 2016 Phillies. Hernández had a .294/.371/.393 line with six home runs and 39 RBI in 155 games that year. To add, Hernández led the majors in triples with 11 and recorded a 107 wRC+ and a .363 BABIP in the process. Hernández recorded a 3.4 fWAR in 2016 as well.
Meanwhile, Hellickson had a 12-10 record with a 3.71 ERA and 154 strikeouts in 32 starts in 2016. Hellickson put up a 3.4 fWAR season in his lone year in Philadelphia. Furthermore, Hellickson had a 3.98 FIP and a 1.15 WHIP as well as a 3.42 K/BB rate that season. RHP Jerad Eickhoff and catcher Cameron Rupp also had respectable seasons for the club.
The Last Hurrah for a Team Legend
2016 was the final season in the major league career of the Phillies team legend Ryan Howard. That season, Howard had a .196/.257/.453 line with 25 home runs and 59 RBI in 112 games. Howard recorded a career-worst 83 wRC+ and a .205 BABIP along with a 0.24 K/BB rate in 2016. The 2016 season marked the third consecutive season Howard recorded a below-average wRC+ and the fourth out of his last five major league seasons. Howard had a career-worst -1.2 fWAR in 2016 as well. Ultimately, Howard was never the same player after his injury in Game 5 of the 2011 NLDS against the St. Louis Cardinals. While a franchise icon, Howard, who, unlike Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins, never played in the majors elsewhere, had a rough last few seasons.
Main Photo Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images