The Philadelphia Phillies franchise played its first season in the National League in 1883. No Phillies team won 36 of its first 50 games in a season until this year. No team in the MLB has done that since the 2001 Seattle Mariners.
Plenty of superlatives can be used to describe the 2024 Phillies season through 50 games, but historic feels like the right adjective to use.
The Phillies are seemingly smashing franchise records on a nightly basis and that continued with their 11-4 drubbing over the defending champion Texas Rangers on Wednesday. Philadelphia trailed 2-0 entering the bottom of the second inning. It tied the game in that inning, took the lead with a run in the bottom of the third then took command with three more runs in the bottom of the fourth.
The Phillies have gotten off to this unbelievable start by getting contributions from almost every player on the roster. On Wednesday, all but one player in the starting lineup scored a run. Bryson Stott was that player, but he notched Philadelphia's first hit of the game and helped keep things moving in its two-run second inning.
The Phillies hit three home runs and five players collected an RBI. The bullpen picked up starter Taijuan Walker, who did not make it out of the fifth inning, by allowing only one hit in 4.1 innings of work.
Philadelphia ranks first in the MLB in runs scored and fourth in OPS. Its pitching staff has a collective 3.17 ERA, third best in all of baseball. The Phillies are winning as a cohesive unit and they're having fun doing it.
Putting the Phillies' historic start into perspective
It's hard for the majority of Phillies fans to wrap their heads around this type of start. Even in 2022 and 2023 when Philadelphia made runs to the World Series and NLCS, they sputtered in the first half before turning things up later in the season.
This year, the Phillies wanted to avoid a slow start with visions of a World Series title at the end of the year. They've exceeded all expectations for the first two months of the season, but they're tired of the regular season talk. They know this will all mean nothing if they don’t win the last game of the 2024 MLB season.
The aforementioned 2001 Mariners won an MLB-record 116 games.
“What did they do at the end?” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said after Wednesday's game, per Marc Feinsand.
They lost in the ALCS, failing to even reach the World Series.
“You’ve got to keep going. You just got to keep grinding, keep pushing all the way through.”
The MLB season is a marathon, not a sprint. Phillies players know that, but they also know that if they continue to play the way they've been, there's a great chance Philly will be the last team standing come November.
“We’ve got a long way to go,” Bryce Harper said. “You play a full season for a reason, so we just have to stay the course, stay confident and just keep doing our thing.”
The Phillies are the 27th team since 1900 to win at least 36 of their first 50 games. Only 11 of the previous 26 went on to win the World Series, the last being the 1998 New York Yankees. The last National League team to match Philadelphia's 50-game start was the 1998 Atlanta Braves. They failed to reach the World Series.
Having an infrequent regular season does not always translate to postseason success. The Phillies hope that isn’t the case for them in 2024 and with the devastation of last year's NLCS exit, they have everything to play for and then some this season.
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