The bedrocks of the team are equally important
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Rafael Devers has been traded to the Giants and that means another team will be in the thick of the playoff race in the National League. So far, there are the usual suspects (Phillies, Dodgers, Cubs) as well as some semi-surprises (Mets, Giants, Padres, Cardinals) that will be vying for the six spots available. It promises to be a tight race that could possibly include other teams as well.
In the case of the Phillies, their roster is talented enough that they should be considered one of the favorites to emerge from the crowd to represent the NL in the World Series, but their fortunes will rest on a few pillars. Should one of those pillars crack, the likelihood that they make it deep into October diminishes greatly.
But what are those pillars? I can identify two:
Not that there aren’t other things at play here. The bullpen will be the wild card in all of this, their unpredictability the main thing that keeps them from glory. Yet these two things – the health and effectiveness of Harper and the starting rotation’s performance – are what the Phillies have been built on. Which one is more important to the team?