To paraphrase the philosopher Bueller – as in Ferris, not Walker (Buehler) – baseball moves fairly quickly. Example: the magic number of a team can go from 13 to 1 over six days.
So imagine how much can happen in 162 days.
How long has it lasted since the phillies and dodgers met. It was April 6, a rainy Sunday in Citizens Bank Park, and the Phillies won the series after the departure of the Dodgers, Tyler Glasnow, collapsed like Burt Hooton in 1977 (Google It, Kids).
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Five months later, they will renew knowledge for three days at the Dodger stadium and, well, things are different. To name only a few:
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Zack Wheeler, the best phillie launcher, had a blood clot removed from his shoulder last month and is waiting for surgery next week for the chest exit syndrome.
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Shohei Ohtani is launching again for the Dodgers after Tommy John Elbow surgery will make his first beginning of a career against the Phillies on Tuesday evening.
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The Phillies play without Star of Cop-Court Trea Turner (hamstrings) and the third basic player Alec Bohm (shoulder), but have a new dominant closer (Jhoan Duran) and a central Spunky field player (Harrison Bader). Dodgers do not have the receiver Will Smith (hand) or a lot of order in their enclosure.
But here is one thing that has not changed: phillies and dodgers have the lists most loaded with stars in the national league. And they shine brighter when approaching October.
The challenges are raised this week, not because the Phillies (89-61) are a victory for the defense of the title NL East and the Dodgers (84-65) try to relaunch a NL West of the Padres challenge.
This week is a question of positioning the playoffs. The seeded n ° 2 in the NL field – and the goodbye in the Tour des Jkersrs Perfid – is at stake, the phillies arriving with an advance of 4½ games on the Dodgers.
“And we still want the best record,” said manager Rob Thomson, “if it’s there for the catch.”
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But if neither the phillies nor the dodgers attract the brewers of the league (91-59), the coastal titans could compete in the division tour. This would surely help to have the first two games – and match 5, if necessary – at home, where phillies and dodgers have the best and third best records in baseball.
“I have the impression that each time we contravene each other, we have very good series,” said Kyle Schwarber, who leads Ohtani, 52-49, in the race to be NL Home Run King. “It’s always back and forth, very intense matches. Little things count against teams like that.
“It will be good to go out. We know the task to come. ”
Three scenarios that we will follow:
The left -wing of the phillies against Ohtani, Freeman
When the phillies called Buehler and went to a rotation of six men, they could have aligned Aaron Nola to face the dodgers.
Instead, they went with their three left -handed runners.
It may be an overview of the rotation of the division series. Maybe everything will be mixed again. But Nola’s difficulties on Sunday against the Royals only strengthened the case so that Thomson can follow the alleged starter of match 1 Cristopher Sánchez with Ranger Suárez and Jesús Luzardo.
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The range of dodgers is balanced. Among their seven best strikers, three left -handers (Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Max Muncy) and four right -handers (Smith, Mookie Betts, Teoscar Hernández, Andy Pages). But overall, they were slightly better against right -handed starters (0.772 ops) than left -handed (0.748).
Freeman, in particular, crushes everyone almost too. But Muncy rarely starts against left -handers. And Ohtani, who went 1 for 11 in the April series in Philly, Opsing .878 against the left -handed beginners against 1.053 against right -handers.
It will be interesting to see if Sánchez, Suárez and Luzardo can close Sho-Time this week.
The arenas
Before the deadline for exchanges, the lift phillies ranked 24th in the majors in the era (4.48) and equal to the 16th place in the withdrawal rate (22.2%). Since then, they have been 10th in the era (3.78) and tied at the seventh withdrawal rate (25.1%).
Call this the duran effect.
The phillies also signed David Robertson as a free agent in July. But by acquiring Duran, they finally gave Thomson an elite and brought the order to the enclosure of the lifts.
“Knowing just who gets the ball in the ninth, it takes the other seven over there,” said Lefty Matt Strahm in a recent episode of Extra philliesThe Inquirer’s Baseball Show. “I receive the analytical side of baseball, but I always thought that roles have a huge impact. Because a closest is just a different breed. They know how to get out of this corner when they go there.
“And it’s different, these last three withdrawals. I don’t think you can find on a computer how difficult they are.”
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The Dodgers discover it.
During the offseason, they burnt down the enclosure of the lifts, signing the closures of the Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates star and bringing Blake Treinen. Scott and Yates had trouble. Michael Kopech recently returned from knee surgery, but Evan Phillips, Brusdar Graterol, Gavin Stone and others were released for the year. They exchanged against Brock Stewart on the deadline, and he was injured in the shoulder.
He left Manager Dave Roberts to try to reconstruct him.
Can Dodgers be great?
When the dodgers came to town in April, they were 8-0 and made comparisons with the biggest teams of all time.
Five months later, they are at a rate of 91 victims.
Thus, the Dodgers 2025 will not be the Yankees of 1998. But by winning six of the seven games, they perhaps imitate the Yankees 2000, a reigning champion who often seemed annoyed in a regular season of 87 victories before dominating October.
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“I don’t know,” said Joe Torre, the Dynasty Yankees manager on Sunday. “They had a lot of injuries, especially for their pitching staff. Without pitching, you cannot end the game. But they have quality people. They have a scary offense. They have a better offense than our offense, without a doubt.
“When you’ve already won, you know what you need to win. But you can’t stop to admire:” Look at what I did “because you lose it quickly.”
