The Philadelphia Phillies completed a four-game sweep of the New York Mets on Thursday night and added to their National League East lead in the process. At 87-60 on the season, Philadelphia is now 11 games ahead of New York in the standings.
Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic recently highlighted the Phillies’ chemistry as one of the club’s driving forces.
“Big stars create a different and occasionally uncomfortable dynamic. The Mets’ big stars, Juan Soto, Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso, are viewed by those with the club as good people. They work hard and surely want to win as much as Harper, Schwarber and Turner. But something appears off with this team. And while it might be easy to blame the $765 million addition of Soto, it would be too simple a narrative. Soto sure seemed to fit in well with the New York Yankees last season. He’s also in the middle of a 39-homer, 31-stolen base season, and is tied with Schwarber for fourth in the majors in OPS,” Rosenthal wrote.
“Chemistry can be elusive, difficult to capture, difficult to define. But whatever that quality is, the Phillies sure seem to have it. Part of it stems from their last-hurrah mentality, knowing Schwarber, catcher J.T. Realmuto and left-hander Ranger Suarez are potential free agents. Part of it stems from their deadline additions, who created a special energy. And part of it stems from Schwarber, one of the game’s most respected leaders and humble characters.”
The Mets won the season series against the Phillies, but have struggled to remain consistent throughout the campaign. They swept Philadelphia at home last month, but are 4-9 since that set.
The Phillies have gone 10-3 since that series concluded, and look primed to make a deep October run.
“I'm really proud of the ballclub,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson told MLB.com. ” … I think everybody understands where we're at and what we need to do to get this thing done. And things change in a heartbeat, so I'm not counting my chickens right now.”
