The Major League Baseball All Star break is here, the unofficial midpoint of the 2024 season, and your Philadelphia Phillies have had quite a go of it so far.
Tonight, third baseman Alec Bohm will participate in the Home Run Derby. The Phillies shattered a club record by sending eight All Stars to the Midsummer Classic – Bohm, Bryce Harper, Trea Turner, Zack Wheeler, Ranger Suarez, Cristopher Sanchez, Jeff Hoffman and Matt Strahm – with Wheeler and Suarez unable to play due to nagging back injuries.
They have more wins at the break, 62, than any other team in Phillies history. They are 28 games over .500, have won 64% of their games, and own the best record in the sport, 3½ games better than the Cleveland Guardians. They lead the Atlanta Braves in the National League East by a ridiculous 8½ games, and they have a 6½-game lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers for the best record in the NL. Despite a ghastly 18-3 loss to the Oakland A’s on Sunday, their +110 run differential is still better than anyone else.
We have witnessed complete and total domination by a team with the deepest and most talented roster in the sport.
The Phillies are on pace to win 104 games, which would be two games better than the 2011 team that won 102.
It is not hyperbole to say that we are watching the greatest Phillies team in franchise history.
Bear in mind, the Phillies have been in existence since 1883. This is their 141st season of baseball. This is the best one of those 141 that has ever taken the field.
An embarrassment of riches
The top four of their starting rotation – Wheeler, Suarez, Sanchez and Aaron Nola (who didn’t make the All Star team despite an 11-4 record and 3.38 ERA) – is better than the Super Rotation of 2011 that featured Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels and Roy Oswalt.
After multiple seasons in which the team sent a reliever to the All Star Game only because they had to send someonethey sent two relievers to Texas because they have been utterly unhittable. They have the deepest pitching staff in baseball, top to bottom.
And in a season in which offense is down throughout the sport, the Phillies have scored more runs per game than anyone else, and have the third-highest OPS in baseball, best in the NL. They have three MVP candidates in Harper, Turner and Bohm, with Kyle Schwarber, J.T. Realmuto, Bryson Stott and Nick Castellanos doing their normal things as well, both good and bad.
Make no mistake, it’s not a perfect team, but they are more perfect than any other team in Major League Baseball and they certainly are more perfect than any other squad we’ve seen don red and white pinstripes.
They’ve also gotten tremendous production out of role players. Edmundo Sosa essentially saved the offense during the six weeks Turner was out with a bad hamstring by putting up an OPS well over .850. Kody Clemens and David Dahl had some big moments, Rafael Marchan has been a revelation as the team’s second catcher with Realmuto on the shelf, and Johan Rojas appears to be waking up after a dreadful start to the season.
About the only thing that hasn’t gone right so far is Whit Merrifield.
Of course, at the end of the day, we’ll feel hollow if they don’t continue to do well in the second half. Winning the World Series is the ultimate goal. But let’s just put that on the shelf for now and accept what should be clear to every Phillies fan in the Delaware Valley.
The 2024 Phillies are the best team in franchise history.
Make sure to check out the latest Hittin’ Season podcast where we discuss the team’s place in the city’s lore, recap the first half with favorite moments, and look ahead to this week’s All Star Game and the trade deadline, too!