May 29, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; Philadelphia Phillies designated hitter Kyle Schwarber (12) follows through on his RBI single against the San Francisco Giants during the eighth inning at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: D. Ross Cameron-USA TODAY Sports
If the 2024 Phillies fail to win the World Series, nobody will care how many regular season wins they collected. Let's get that out of the way.
But celebrating milestones along the 162-game grind is part of what makes baseball fun. That's especially true for fans of a franchise that's been around since 1883 with only two championships to show for it.
To celebrate the Phillies reaching 90 wins, which they've accomplished just 16 times prior to this season, here's a look at some numbers explaining how they got there:
52: Home wins. The Phils have won 67% of their home games but just 53% of their road games. They are well-positioned to secure home-field advantage in a best-of-five NLDS. But they need to stay ahead of the 89-win Dodgers to ensure that they keep that advantage for the NLCS against any opponent.
Home-field advantage in the NLCS only matters, of course, if the series goes seven games. And in that scenario, many of us will have passed away from heart attacks.
33: Blowout wins (defined as wins by five or more runs). The Phils are 33-19 in these games, an encouraging sign. When one team decisively beat the other, the Phillies were the winner 64% of the time.
23: Wins in one-run games. Teams need to be able to pull out close games as well, especially in the postseason. The Phils' 23-18 record in nailbiters is another good omen.
8: Extra-inning wins. The Phillies also have eight extra-inning losses. The takeaway here is that the ghost runner rule turned every extra-inning game into a tossup.
29: Phillies wins when their starting pitcher throws at least seven innings. The team is 29-1 in such games. It's a stark reminder that the most important players on the team this postseason will be Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Cristopher Sanchez, and Ranger Suarez. If all four are throwing their best in Red October, it will be extremely difficult to send this Phillies team home.
Here are the 30 seven-inning starts broken down by individual pitchers:
Screenshot of data from statmuse.com 25: Phillies wins in games where Kyle Schwarber hits a home run, compared to just three losses. If the starting pitching doesn't dominate in the postseason, it's possible that the team can ride a wave of Schwarbombs to a championship.
22: Wins over National League teams that currently occupy a postseason spot (LAD, MIL, SD, AZ, NYM), against ten losses. Winning two thirds of the games against likely postseason opponents is extremely encouraging. Are you old enough to remember when the Phillies were only winning games because of their weak schedule?
20: Wins in May, the Phillies' best month of the season. Going 20-7 in May gave them a .741 winning percentage. But their second best winning percentage? September (10-4, or .714). Here's the full breakdown:
10: More Phillies wins needed to get to 100 regular season wins. Would take a 10-2 finish. Unlikely, but feasible.
11: Assuming the Phillies lock up a top-two seed in the NL, the number of postseason wins needed to bring a parade to Philadelphia.
