I was having a fairly good day until I saw this nonsense. ESPN released their projections for the 2023 MLB season and has the Philadelphia Phillies winning just 85 games (less than 2022) and missing the playoffs.

Criteria for Determining Win Count

“These numbers here are a rough cut. Underpinning them are the player projections from Steamer, available at Fangraphs.com. I’ve made tweaks to playing time forecasts on my depth charts in order to compile a basic win projection for each team, which I used as the basis for running 10,000 simulations of the 2023 schedule.”

Shoutout to Bradford Doolittle for being a lunatic, no wonder this article is behind a paywall.

ESPN Projects the Phillies at 85 Wins in 2023

Doolittle has the Phillies sitting at 85.2 wins for the 2023 season, trailing the New York Mets, Atlanta Braves, San Diego Padres, St. Louis Cardinals, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Milwaukee Brewers. With just six teams eligible to make the playoffs, Doolittle has the Phillies missing the playoffs in 2023.

I guess Mr. Doolittle forgot that the Phillies added the best all-around shortstop in baseball and a Top 10 player in the entire sport. With the addition of Trea Turner, the Phillies will be rolling out a dangerous lineup once Bryce Harper returns from the IL.

1. Kyle Schwarber
2. Trea Turner
3. Bryce Harper
4. JT Realmuto
5. Nick Castellanos
6. Alec Bohm
7. Rhys Hoskins
8. Bryson Stott
9. Brandon Marsh

Put that lineup in whatever order you want; that’s not the point. The point here is that the Phillies are going to be a dangerous team at the plate.

Read more: Jean Segura finds new home in NL East >>

Along with the Turner signing, the Phillies added Taijuan Walker, a starting pitcher that can eat innings and has the potential to be a star on the mound. Walker is added to a rotation that already has two star pitchers in Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler, along with Ranger Suarez, who tallied a 1.23 ERA as a swiss-army knife in the 2022 magical playoff run. Oh, and don’t forget Andrew Painter, who is quite literally a robot and the best prospect the Phillies organization has ever seen.

Seranthony Dominguez, Jose Alvarado, Connor Brogdon, Matt Strahm, Craig Kimbrel, and Andrew Bellatti, along with Bailey Falter and Cristopher Sanchez as hybrid guys. That bullpen is really good, just not good enough for Doolittle’s liking, unfortunately.

The media will continue to disrespect the city of Philadelphia, the Phillies, their potential, and more. Considering the Phillies were the 12th-ranked team coming into last year’s playoffs, it’s nice to see them getting disrespected once again just to make everyone look like idiots in the end.

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