Where Do The Phillies Rank After A Terrible Week? MLB Power Rankings Roundup

The Phillies have lost seven of the first nine series to begin the 2022 season and are now a staggering 7.5 GB of the division leading New York Mets. So where did the national media slot the Phillies in the latest edition of MLB Power Rankings Roundup?

Lets just say the Phillies aren’t getting a whole lot of respect!

And rightfully so, the Phillies are just 3-7 in their last ten games, after losing to the Mariners 5-4 on Tuesday night.

The Phillies offense still resides around the top ten in almost every significant offensive category. Yet, I still have a feeling that the bats aren’t scoring at the most important times. Right now, it’s all feast or famine. For example, the Phils could only muster three runs in last weekends double-header with the Mets.

Offense	Pitching	Defense
R 7th	Starters ERA 16th	Fielding Pct 23rd
AVG 6th	Bullpen ERA 23rd	Errors T-23rd
OBP 10th	BABIP 6th	Defensive Runs Saved 28th
WAR 10th	Starter WAR 13th	UZR 18th
wRC+ 9th	Bullpen WAR 10th	Runs Above Average 21st

On a positive note, the Phillies bullpen is definitely improved from the tire fire we have seen the past two seasons. The bullpen ERA has slowly been decreasing after beginning the first few weeks of 2022 ranked dead last.

This hasn’t been enough to make up for the decrease in efficiency coming from the starting rotation. Zack Wheeler opened up the season with a few terrible starts and results from Ranger Suarez and Aaron Nola haven’t been been quite as good. The rotation was the strength of this team in 2021 as they finished 4th in WAR. I feel like the starters are beginning to round into form, especially after a shortened Spring Training that limited their build up to a full workload. However, for the Phillies to be in contention to make the playoffs, they will desperately need Wheeler and Suarez to pitch to up to their All-Star capabilities.

Entering the season the defense was expected to be the achilles heel of this team and so far the Phillies glove work has more than lived up to their low expectations. The Phillies added four more errors to their total last night in a game they would have won if not for the costly mistakes. Other than catcher, I don’t think the Phillies play average defense at any of the other eight positions.

NL East Standings	W-L	GB	L10	Playoff Odds (FanGraphs)
Mets	21-10	–	6-4	90.9 %
Braves	14-17	7	4-6	69.9 %
Marlins	13-17	7.5	1-9	33.0 %
Phillies	13-17	7.5	3-7	12.7 %
Nationals	10-21	11	4-6	0.1 %

MLB Power Rankings Roundup:

Website	Phillies Ranking	Last Week +/-	Other NL Teams
MLB.com	19	19	Mets 3, Braves 13, Marlins 16, Nats 28
TheAthletic.com	17	16 (-1)	Mets 3, Braves 14, Marlins, 16, Nats 29
CBSSports.com	20	15 (-5)	Mets 3, Braves 13, Marlins 18, Nats
SportsIllustrated.com	19	15 (-4)	Mets 3, Braves 15, Marlins 18, Nats 29
USAToday.com	19	16 (-3)	Mets 3, Braves 14, Marlins 17, Nats 28

MLB.com | Alyson Footer

Crickets…

The Athletic.com | James Fegan & Nick Groke

Mom is gonna be over here waiting for you to figure out: What is with this Phillies team? They nicked Max Scherzer for his first loss in nearly a year in the first game of a double dip Sunday. Then in the second game, Chris Bassitt steamrolled them. But they were rained out twice in New York because this Phillies season is still stalled. They’ve won just two series, against the A’s to open the season and a four-game sweep of the Rockies.

CBSSports.com | Matt Snyder

Give them credit for winning the game following the worst defeat any team will suffer this season. Then again, let’s not give them too much credit. It’s pretty pathetic to lose a game in which you built a seven-run lead in four innings and still led by six heading into the ninth, especially for one of the teams actively trying to win.

Sports Illustrated | Will Laws

No one has been wildly overperforming or disappointing in Philadelphia, but it’s been sad to see the Ranger Suárez train slow down a bit after he was one of the more unexpected breakout players of 2021. After last year’s 3.0-WAR campaign split between the bullpen and rotation, he’s a full-time starter this season and has seen his strikeout rate sink from 25.6% to 14%, while his ERA is up to 4.63 from last year’s microscopic 1.36 mark. He’s also already matched his ’21 total for home runs allowed with four. His stuff may miss more bats if it’s allowed to play up in the bullpen.

USAToday.com | Jesse Tomtov

SS Bryson Stott back in the majors as Didi Gregorius heads to the injured list.

Mandatory Photo Credit: Sports Illustrated