Phillies: One fatal flaw that will prevent Philadelphia from winning World Series

Playoff fever is very much back in the air in Philadelphia and the Phillies are poised to make another deep October run.

The Philadelphia Phillies shocked a lot of people when they won the National League pennant last season. It wouldn’t be a surprise if they did it again this year en route to another World Series appearance. The Phillies have fantastic odds of making the postseason thanks to their 49-29 record since June which has vaulted them into the top wild card spot in the NL.

Philly is on pace to top its record from a year ago and get a better seed in the postseason. It showed last year that seedings mean nothing, but it's always nice to have more guaranteed home games. Citizens Bank Park was maybe the hardest ballpark to play in last October and the Phillies thrived off their fans, cruising to a 6-2 home record in the playoffs.

The Philadelphia crowd continues to liven up the stadium throughout the 2023 season and the Phillies delivered several memorable moments in the last homestand. The Phillies went 7-2 in their last three series and hit 24 home runs in the nine games, wowing the City of Brotherly Love with each crack of the bat.

Among the achievements was Bryce Harper's 300th career dinger and the Phillies breaking the franchise record for home runs in a single month with 59, the third most by any team in a month since 1904.

Playoff fever is very much back in the air in Philadelphia and the Phillies are poised to make another deep October run. As talented as they are, the Phillies do have their flaws. Can they overcome this one to make a return to the Fall Classic?

Phillies starters could be fatigued

The Phillies starting rotation is among the best in the MLB. With Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola leading the way, how could it not be? Despite both of them having down years by their standards, Phillies starting pitching has the 10th-best ERA in the league. Thanks to those starters and a top-10 bullpen, Philadelphia's pitching staff as a whole has produced more WAR than any other team, according to Fangraphs.

The potential problem for the Phillies lies in the usage of their starting pitchers and their pitching staff in general. Only three teams have more innings pitched by their starters this season than the Phillies. That's usually a good thing, but that amount of wear and tear on a pitching staff could come back to haunt a team in the playoffs.

Philadelphia traded for Michael Lorenzen at the start of August and implemented a six-man rotation for an undisclosed amount of time. That lasted about three weeks until Ranger Suarez went on the injured list with a hamstring injury. Suarez is expected to return before the playoffs and the Phillies could go back to a six-man rotation for the remainder of the regular season if he does, but they'll have to pinpoint at least three starters they want to ride throughout October.

Wheeler and Nola are obvious choices but both have shown signs of weariness this season on the back of a combined 59 starts last year in the regular season and playoffs. Nola in particular tailed off at the end of the postseason last year, allowing 14 runs in his final three starts after pitching two shutouts to start October. That isn’t a good sign for this year, especially considering the way Nola has pitched throughout the summer.

Bullpen ready to go

There is an upside to having the starting rotation pitch so much. Phillies relievers have logged the least amount of innings among MLB bullpens in 2023, meaning they should be slightly fresher than the other playoff bullpens.

Philadelphia's relief pitching has been much more reliable this season than most in recent memory. Who knows where the Phillies would be without it? It'll no doubt play a factor in Philly's chances in October and will be expected to do big things. The regulars of Jose Alvarado and Craig Kimbrel have held it down this year and with the help of some unexpected contributions from Jeff Hoffman and Dylan Covey, among others, the Phillies bullpen is more feared now than it has been in well over a decade.

Regardless of Philadelphia's plan for their starting rotation for the rest of the regular season and the playoffs, its bullpen management will be the most important thing on the docket.

Rob Thomson will have a much brighter spotlight on him this October than he did last. Can he and the Phillies make the right adjustments and deliver a championship to Philadelphia?