To paraphrase the philosopher Bueller — as in Ferris, not Walker (Buehler) — baseball moves pretty fast. Case in point: A team’s magic number can go from 13 to 1 in six days.
Imagine, then, how much can happen in 162 days.
That’s how long it has been since the Phillies and Dodgers got together. It was April 6, a rainy Sunday in Citizens Bank Park, and the Phillies won the series after Dodgers starter Tyler Glasnow unraveled like Burt Hooton in 1977 (Google it, kids).
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Five months later, they will renew acquaintances for three days at Dodger Stadium, and, well, things are different. To name a few:
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Zack Wheeler, the Phillies’ best pitcher, had a blood clot removed from his shoulder last month and is awaiting surgery next week for thoracic outlet syndrome.
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Shohei Ohtani is pitching again for the Dodgers after Tommy John elbow surgery and will make his first career start against the Phillies on Tuesday night.
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The Phillies are playing without star shortstop Trea Turner (hamstring) and third baseman Alec Bohm (shoulder), but have a dominant new closer (Jhoan Duran) and spunky center fielder (Harrison Bader). The Dodgers don’t have catcher Will Smith (hand) or much order in their bullpen.
But here’s one thing that hasn’t changed: The Phillies and Dodgers own the most star-laden rosters in the National League. And they’re shining brighter as October nears.
The stakes are high this week, and not because the Phillies (89-61) are one victory from defending the NL East title and the Dodgers (84-65) are trying to stave off an NL West challenge from the Padres.
This week is all about playoff positioning. The No. 2 seed in the NL field — and accompanying bye in the treacherous wild-card round — is in play, with the Phillies arriving with a 4½-game lead over the Dodgers.
“And we still want the best record,” manager Rob Thomson said, “if it’s there for the taking.”
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But if neither the Phillies nor the Dodgers catch the league-leading Brewers (91-59), the coastal titans could clash as early as the divisional round. It would surely help to have the first two games — and Game 5, if necessary — at home, where the Phillies and Dodgers have the best and third-best records in baseball, respectively.
“I feel like every time we go against each other that we have some pretty good series,” said Kyle Schwarber, who leads Ohtani, 52-49, in the race to be NL home run king. “It’s always back and forth, some very intense games. The little things matter against teams like that.
“It’ll be good to get out there. We know the task ahead.”
Three storylines that we’ll be following:
Phillies’ lefties vs. Ohtani, Freeman
When the Phillies called up Buehler and went to a six-man rotation, they could have lined up Aaron Nola to face the Dodgers.
Instead, they went with their three lefty starters.
Maybe it’s a preview of the division series rotation. Maybe everything will get shuffled again. But Nola’s struggles Sunday against the Royals only strengthened the case for Thomson to follow presumptive Game 1 starter Cristopher Sánchez with Ranger Suárez and Jesús Luzardo.
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The Dodgers’ lineup is balanced. Among their seven best hitters, three bat left-handed (Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Max Muncy) and four right-handed (Smith, Mookie Betts, Teoscar Hernández, Andy Pages). But overall, they have fared slightly better against righty starters (.772 OPS) than lefties (.748).
Freeman, in particular, mashes everyone almost equally. But Muncy rarely starts against lefties. And Ohtani, who went 1-for-11 in the April series in Philly, is OPSing .878 against lefty starters compared to 1.053 vs. righties.
It’ll be interesting to see if Sánchez, Suárez, and Luzardo can shut down Sho-Time this week.
The bullpens
Before the trade deadline, Phillies relievers ranked 24th in the majors in ERA (4.48) and tied for 16th in strikeout rate (22.2%). Since then, they’re 10th in ERA (3.78) and tied for seventh in strikeout rate (25.1%).
Call it the Duran Effect.
The Phillies also signed David Robertson as a free agent in July. But in acquiring Duran, they finally gave Thomson an elite closer and brought order to the bullpen.
“Just knowing who’s getting the ball in the ninth, it takes a little off the other seven of us down there,” lefty Matt Strahm said on a recent episode of Phillies Extra, The Inquirer’s baseball show. “I get the analytics side of baseball, but I’ve always thought roles have a huge impact. Because a closer is just a different breed. They know how to get out of that corner when they get backed into it.
“And it’s different, those last three outs. I don’t think you can find on a computer how difficult they are.”
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The Dodgers are finding that out.
In the offseason, they bulked up the bullpen, signing All-Star closers Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates and bringing back Blake Treinen. Scott and Yates have struggled. Michael Kopech recently returned from knee surgery, but Evan Phillips, Brusdar Graterol, Gavin Stone, and others are out for the year. They traded for Brock Stewart at the deadline, and he injured his shoulder.
It has left manager Dave Roberts to try to piece it together.
Can the Dodgers be super?
When the Dodgers came to town in April, they were 8-0 and prompted comparisons to the greatest teams of all time.
Five months later, they’re on a ho-hum, 91-win pace.
So, the 2025 Dodgers won’t be the 1998 Yankees. But in winning six of seven games, maybe they’re mimicking the 2000 Yankees, a defending champ that often appeared bored in an 87-win regular season before dominating October.
» READ MORE: From April: Bring on the Dodgers, a superteam that’s good for baseball
“I don’t know,” Joe Torre, the Dynasty Yankees manager, said Sunday. “They’ve had a lot of injuries, especially to their pitching staff. Without pitching, you can’t end the game. But they have some quality people. They have an offense that scares. They have an offense that was better than our offense, without question.
“When you’ve won before, you know what it takes to win. But you can’t stop to admire, ‘Look what I did,’ because you lose it quick.”