Same Spot, Different Year: How the Phillies Compare to their successful 2022 Campaign

A Tale of Two Teams

The 2022 team entered Sept. 8 with a record of 75-61. This team left Sunday’s game against the Marlins with a record of 78-64. While the records are incredibly similar, the Phillies find themselves in a more confident position this year.

Last year, the Phillies faithful hoped and a prayed that they would sneak into the postseason. Now? The Phightins are looking to lock down their hunt for the first wild-card spot. As of this writing, they have 2 games on the Chicago Cubs for the first Wild Card spot. While not great, it’s still not as precarious as the previous year and there’s another major difference.

There’s a whole different type of drive and energy for this 2023 squad. Oddly enough, the Phillies had been swept by the Cubs in Chicago in 2022, yet returned to Wrigley with a vengeance this year, taking 5 out of their 6 matchups. In 2022, as with the typical Phillies fan base, fears of losing out on the postseason lurked. That was driven by the 2021 season where the last two months they ran out of steam. While not running out of gas towards the 2nd half of the season last year, the concern of blowing it all lingered deep in the psyche of the team.

A New Version of the Phillies

This is a very different book for the 2023 Phillies. There’s confidence in the lineup: Trea Turner has clearly returned back into his old self as a result of the standing ovation, Bryce Harper has emerged from Tommy John surgery and is slowly rediscovering his power, slugger Kyle Schwarber is finally finding his groove. This team isn’t arrogant, they’re inspired. They clearly know that they have it in them to make it to another World Series.

The 2022 season ended abruptly for Philadelphia. Losing in Game 6 of the World Series, 4-1. While the season ended in disappointment, there were many positive things that fans saw that have carried over into this season. Alec Bohm came into the 2022 season looking for revenge. Bohm struggled at first, offensively and defensively but ended the season and postseason playing respectable defense and finished with a .280 batting average.

Schwarber is also showing signs of being the man from last postseason. He is on pace to be the first qualified Phillies player to have more walks (114) than hits (102) in a season. The leadoff hitter also only needs one more home run to hold the top two spots in team history in homers from that spot. This is also the first full season under manager Rob Thomson after Joe Girardi was relieved of his duties in June 2022.

2023 is very different and they have 20 more games to prove that the number one Wild Card spot should be theirs. They can’t (and aren’t) taking them for granted. But they have been here before. And they know what can happen.

Red October is around the corner. If their 2022 postseason push is any indication, don’t expect their drive to turn off any time soon.