By virtue of their 9-2 win over the Cardinals last night, the Phillies clinched the NL East title, their fifth in a row. The team doesn’t have home field advantage throughout the playoffs locked up yet, but it’s coming. The team leads the Brewers for that number one seed by 10 games with 12 to play. Their magic number for that top spot is two, so by the end of play tonight, they could have the top seed locked up.
But after clinching home field, where do the Phillies go from here? The team can go ahead and start setting up their postseason rotation, which I’d assume would be Halladay-Lee-Hamels for the division series. Both Halladay and Lee have just two starts remaining on the year, neither coming in the final series of the season against the Braves. Cole Hamels has three starts remaining, including tonight against the Cardinals, and in the final game of the season against Atlanta. With Joe Blanton coming off of the disabled list this month, the team can choose to let Blanton eat some innings that were earmarked for their three aces so as to not wear them out in meaningless games down the stretch.
There is also a Cy Young race going on, with Halladay and Lee as two of the top contenders. Limiting their innings could be detrimental to the cause at the end of the day and could allow Clayton Kershaw to pass them up in the voting. Personally, I think this is silly. Your goal is to win a championship, not to win individual awards. In fifteen years, people won’t necessarily remember if Halladay, Lee or Kershaw wins the Cy Young award. They *will* remember if the Phillies win the 2011 World Series.
The team can also use this time in September to rest some of their every day players. Hunter Pence hasn’t had a day off since joining the Phillies. With the rosters expanded, Philadelphia can use this time to let Domonic Brown or Ben Francisco spell Pence in right field, and get their star some time off. Shane Victorino is struggling in September, with a .191 batting average and .624 OPS. Giving him some time off could allow him to regain his stroke, which the Phillies will definitely need come playoff time.
Philadelphia doesn’t really need to worry about their bullpen. None of their relievers have over 60 innings pitched (aside from Kyle Kendrick, who’s made 14 starts), unlike their division-mates in Atlanta, who have four relievers over 60 innings. Most of this is due in part to Philly’s heavy reliance on excellent starting pitching, with two starters over 200 innings and Cole Hamels ready to join them tonight.
The Phillies are in great shape for the playoffs. They have no major injuries, and two weeks worth of time to rest up their players. Unless the Phillies want to risk injuries to their players to go after the 106 wins posted by the 1998 Atlanta Braves (the most in the NL in the last 25 years), then they can rest easily heading into October. The only certainty down the stretch is that the 2011 Phillies will set a new franchise record for wins. The current mark is 101, held by the 1976 and 1977 squad. Barring a collapse, that record will be shattered.
