It’s no secret that the Phillies are currently on year 10 of their playoff drought. Second-half collapses have prevented the team from getting over the hump, even with the expanded playoffs during the 2020 COVID season. In fact, with the Seattle Mariners still not making the playoffs last year, the 10 years since the Phillies have played meaningful October baseball is still the second-longest timeline in the entire MLB.
Due to this, this Phillies club lacks deep Postseason experience. With the addition of Schwarber, the Phillies have that experience.
The Phillies Need His Experience
During his introductory press conference, newest Phillie Kyle Schwarber and head of baseball operations, Dave Dombrowski, highlighted the importance of Schwarber being added to the lineup.
“It’s really big because it’s understanding what it takes, understanding how you need to perform every day and be prepared. Understanding what a great feeling it is. When I go back as a player, I always wanted to play in the World Series. But I never realized how good it was until I got there. Then it’s like you’re addicted to it. You want it every year and you’re going to do whatever it takes. In your game, you bring a sense of urgency every day and you grind out things and I think that’s what we see from Kyle. So I think this attitude, and you bring Nick- who’s been in the playoffs, it becomes infectious. The guys get the feeling and the understanding of what it takes. I’m really excited about it,” Phillies manager Joe Girardi said.
“It’s the attitude, it the mentality that he is going to bring to our club that we are really excited about,” the skipper said.
Dave Dombrowski was well aware of the team’s lack of postseason experience.
“We have a lot of good players on our team. There’s a lot and they had good years for us last year. But it’s also we didn’t have playoff experience and both [Girardi and Schwarber] have talked about the difference. When you see the difference and what it takes to get there, fortunately, I have been in a spot to be part of that for a lengthy period of this time, you see little things that make a difference. I believe with what Kyle brings in that regard or, Schwarbs, we’re in a position that I think that brings it, it was important for us. I think we needed to have someone with that experience for us. You can talk about it but, there’s a difference between talking about it and experiencing it and really showing you think you’re doing it but then until you’re really doing it can see the difference,” Dombrowski said.
With both Schwarber and Nick Castellanos now added to this lineup, along with the expanded MLB playoff field in 2022, it’s the Phillies chance to end that drought and ultimately run with it.
Photo by Randy Litzinger/Icon Sportswire
