Can the Phillies Still Make The Playoffs?
One of my favorite scenes in the move “Major League” is when general manager Charlie Donovan and one of the Indians Board members are trying to talk to to owner Rachel Phelps about the current state of the roster.
Board Member 1: I’ve never heard of half of these guys and the ones I do know are way past their prime.
Charlie Donovan: Most of these guys never had a prime.
Rachel Phelps: The fact is we lost our two best players to free agency. We haven’t won a pennant in over thirty-five years, we haven’t placed higher than fourth in the last fifteen. Obviously it’s time for some changes.
Board Member 2: This guy here is dead!
Rachel Phelps: Cross him off, then!
Earlier in the move, a few guys sitting at the breakfast counter are reading the newspaper, trying to gauge their excitement for the Indians season:
Guy in Bar: Ricky Vaughn? Willie Hays? I haven’t heard most of them. Mitchell Freidman?
Construction Worker: Who are these (Bleepin‘) guys?
I can picture many Phillies fans at McFadden’s before and after games asking:
Kevin Frandsen? Erik Kratz? I haven’t heard of most of them. Josh Lindblom?
Who are these bleepin’ guys?
Well Phillies fans, they are some of the guys that have helped the Phillies cut the NL Wild Card race deficit to just eight games. Sure with just 30 games left in the 2012 season, making the playoffs is a complete and total long shot. On September 1 last season the eventual World Champion Cardinals were 7.5 games out of a playoff spot, they ended up getting in on the final day of the season, beating the Phillies in the Divisional round and winning the While Bleepin’ thing.
So is this year’s edition of the Phillies really in the wild card race?
Well consider the final 30 games feature a very favorable schedule where they will play a stretch of games from September 7-19 against Colorado, Miami, Houston and New York – those teams have just 214 wins in 526 games played this season or a winning percentage of just .406.
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