The Athletic has live coverage of Phillies vs. Diamondbacks in NLCS Game 7.

PHILADELPHIA — The South Philly nights are beginning to bleed into each other, one after another after another.

The long balls go flying through the ionized sky. The ballpark rocks like Lollapalooza. Visiting pitchers go trudging off the mound. Us Weird and Wild historians keep reaching for the record books and spreadsheets. It’s an October scene unlike any other right now.

Advertisement

Tuesday, it was Game 2 of the National League Championship Series. And three hours later, the mammoth Citizens Bank Park scoreboard would read: Phillies 10, Diamondbacks 0. So as always, we’re here for you with all the latest Philadelphia-ized Weirdness and Wildness. And yep, you’re welcome!

1. Vet and Wild

Across the parking lot from Citizens Bank Park, there used to be a ballpark, if that’s the right word for it. Its name was Veterans Stadium, but in Philly, it was known fondly (or not) as “The Vet.”

And it felt, in its day, as if the Vet had a hell of a run, assuming you could ignore all that AstroConcrete, the bathroom ambiance in the 700 level and the actual courtroom (for drunks, streakers and reprobates) in the basement. But let history record the fact that the Vet was demolished in March 2004. A moment of silence, please.

So why the heck am I bringing this up now, in a 2023 NLCS Weird and Wild column? Because it occurred to me Tuesday night that these Phillies have just blown up the Vet again — if you think of these things the way we think of them here at Weird and Wild HQ. Which pretty much no rational-thinking humans do — so here’s what I’m getting at:

The Phillies in their 33 seasons at the Vet (1971-2003): 11 postseason wins (as in 11-14).

The Phillies in the past 12 months and change at CBP: 12 postseason wins (as in 12-2)!

Yes, if you merely roll the clock back to the 2022 National League Division Series, these 2022-23 Phillies have already won more postseason games in their home park than 33 years’ worth of Phillies teams won in their previous home park. And yeah, yeah, I know there are more rounds and series now. But …

The Phillies did win a World Series in that other park (in 1980) … and made it to two other World Series (in 1983 and 1993) … and won more than 100 games in two other seasons (1976 and ’77). So there was an eight-season stretch (1976-83) in there that was widely considered at the time to be the greatest run in franchise history. And that team still won fewer postseason games, in that whole run, than the current Phillies have won at the Bank in their last 14 home games.

Advertisement

So as we try to make sense of the gargantuan dominance of these current Phillies (at least so far this postseason), does that Vet Stadium comparison help make that point? I vote yes. But just to make sure, I delivered the news to this Phillies clubhouse.

BRANDON MARSH: “What year was that again (that the Vet got blown up)?”

WEIRD AND WILD: “That was 2004.”

MARSH: “OK, I was only a niño then (6 years old, to be exact). But I definitely heard that it existed.”

W&W: “So does it seem possible that your team could have won more postseason games here just since last October than that Phillies team won there in 33 years?”

MARSH: “That’s pretty crazy. It is. That is so crazy, man. It’s just a reminder that it’s a blessing to be a part of something like this. I keep saying it, but it’s just really amazing. I feel like this club continues to shock people, and we’ve just got to stay humble and hungry.”

So let’s review again, after the second-largest blowout in Phillies postseason history, exactly how “crazy” and “shocking” and “amazing” this team’s postseason has been.

In eight postseason games, the Phillies have sent only six hitters to the plate while trailing! How few is that? Well, for one thing, it’s so few that backup catcher Garrett Stubbs could recall them all off the top of his head. There were three in the ninth inning of Game 2 of the NLDS against the Braves, one early in Game 3 and two in Game 4. And that was it — in eight games.

That seemed so hard to comprehend that I checked with the great Sam Hovland of STATS Perform just to see if any other team had ever done that. And that answer is … not a one.

FEWEST PA WHILE TRAILING, FIRST 8 GAMES OF A POSTSEASON

(Source: STATS Perform)

(One astounding footnote: The Rangers have played only seven postseason games this year through Tuesday — but they’ve trailed for just three plate appearances so far. So this record might not even make it through Wednesday!)

Advertisement

Through eight games, the Phillies have outscored the D-backs, Braves and Marlins, 46-13! Does that seem kind of dominating? It should, since that plus-33 run differential is merely the biggest in history for any team, not just in its first eight games of a postseason but also over any eight games of any postseason.

They’ve now outhomered the D-backs, Braves and Marlins, 19-4! And that, too, is just absurd. Want to take a wild stab at how many other teams in history have outhomered their opponents by 15 homers over any eight-game span in a postseason? Right you are. That answer is: Not one.

And they’ve now outhomered those teams, 17-2, just in their six home games! Think this through for a moment: 17 home runs hit, two home runs allowed, even though both teams were playing in the same park. I’ve never heard of that. So I ran that by STATS, too. You won’t be shocked to learn we have ourselves another record.

BEST HR DIFFERENTIAL AT HOME IN A SINGLE POSTSEASON

(Source: STATS Perform)

So eight games into this run, the Phillies have put themselves in position to deliver an all-time postseason demolition of the best teams in their sport. If they were going to write themselves a script for how to kick off a postseason, is it safe to say they’d write this script?

“Yeah, you would,” pitcher Taijuan Walker said. “This is a start. But also, it’s just the middle part of the movie. So I mean, obviously, so far so good. But the movie just started. And it started well.”

2. 500 Days of Turner

It would seem kind of weird (and wild), in this nationally televised day and age, for any player to be rocking one of the greatest postseasons in baseball history and yet have almost no one seem to notice it. But can we talk about Trea Turner for a minute?

He kicked off a 10-0 October stomping Tuesday with a 421-foot first-inning homer. And when all the high-fives had been delivered a few hours later, here’s what the Phillies shortstop’s 2023 postseason slash line looked like, eight games and 34 plate appearances into the playoffs:

.500/.559/.967/1.526

Advertisement

Is hitting .500 hard? It seems hard. Nobody else manages to do it, so it must be hard. But Turner is 15 for 30 so far in this Octoberfest, with three homers, eight extra-base hits, four stolen bases (but no times caught stealing) and eight runs scored. And yet …

How much air time has been devoted to that? How many headlines has that made? Heck, when the guy goes to the interview room, he spends half his time being asked questions about all his sweet-swinging, long-ball thrashing teammates.

I don’t get it. But I’m here to correct this October injustice, as much as that’s even possible. Ready for a list of all the players in history who have gotten 30 plate appearances or more in a postseason and batted .500 or better? Here it comes:

Manny Ramirez, 2008 Dodgers — .520 (13 for 25, 36 PA)
Billy Hatcher, 1990 Reds — .519 (14 for 27, 31 PA)
Trea Turner, 2023 Phillies — .500 (15 for 30, 34 PA)

(Source: Baseball Reference / Stathead)

OK, but only Manny hit as many homers as Turner, or beat his slash line, while joining the .500 Club. And nobody in that club tossed in as many extra-base hits or steals as Turner.

So seriously, how could any player — let alone a $300 million free agent — be having an October eruption this historic and find so few talking or asking about it? Good question, right?

I asked his teammates — and told them I had three theories. Either the Phillies have so many stars around him that he’s gotten lost in that planetarium … or he’s just too quiet … or possibly hitting .500 isn’t as tough as it’s made out to be (ha).

W&W TO STUBBS: “Is it possible that hitting .500 is easier than I thought it was?”

STUBBS (who barely got more hits during the regular season than Turner has gotten in this postseason): “You’re asking the wrong guy.”

MARSH: “Oh, it’s definitely not easy. In today’s game. I mean, the pitching is nasty. So for someone to be hitting .500 and be getting five at-bats a night at the top of the order and just being this consistent, it’s incredible.”

Advertisement

W&W: “It’s not just incredible. I’m going to argue it’s one of the two or three best postseasons anybody has ever had.”

MARSH: “And I’ll get behind you. It’s just because you’ve got a lot of dudes on this team doing a lot of cool things. And it’s just kind of the theme of this team. We all just feed off each other. And that’s why it’s not getting more (attention) out there. But hey, I’m behind you on this.”

So there you go. The Trea Turner history watch starts here. Or possibly at Brandon Marsh’s locker. But whatever. The important part is … pay attention to this, will ya?

GO DEEPER

Trea Turner makes history as he stars in Phillies' playoff run to cap turnaround season

Trea Turner solo home run to open the scoring against Merrill Kelly tonight 👀#RedOctober

— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 18, 2023

3. It’s Schwarbomb szn

If it’s League Championship Series time, it must be Kyle Schwarber time. Happens every fall, like pumpkins appearing on your doorstep.

So like the postseason act in two parts he is, the Phillies’ leadoff masher entered the NLCS with four hits in 25 at-bats, no homers, one walk and a .160 batting average in this Octoberfest. But so much for the Schwarbarian’s pre-LCS portion of these festivities. In Games 1 and 2 of this NLCS, here’s what he’s done:

Game 1 — 117 mph home run on the first pitch thrown to his team in this series.

Game 2 — two more home runs and a walk.

And if all this seemed slightly familiar, well, it should. This dude batted .050 (with no homers) in the first two rounds last year, too — then hit .314, with six homers, over the rest of the postseason. And now he’s back at it, wreaking havoc in the LCS, as always.

This makes five League Championship Series in a row that he’s homered! Yes, Schwarber has appeared in five iterations of the LCS — for the 2015 and ’17 Cubs, for the 2021 Red Sox and for the 2022 and ’23 Phillies. He has gone deep in every one of those series. And according to STATS, that ties the record for longest homering streak in any round of the postseason at the start of a player’s career.

Advertisement

But even cooler is this note from STATS: Only one player in history has a longer long-ball streak in any specific series at any point in his career. And that player is … Mickey Mantle, who went deep in seven World Series in a row between 1952 and 1960.

• The only other players to homer in five straight LCS at any point: David Ortiz, Albert Pujols and Jason Varitek.

• The only players besides Mantle to homer in five straight World Series at any point: Babe Ruth, Duke Snider, Frank Robinson, Yogi Berra and Reggie Jackson. Cool names.

But also …

Only one player in history has more career home runs in the LCS than Schwarber now has (10)! And that’s Manny Ramirez, with 13. Pujols also had 10.

And no left-handed hitter in history has hit more postseason homers, period, than Schwarber (18)! Reggie (who also hit 18) has held this record for more than 30 years. But he now has company — in the form of the Phillies’ leadoff man, who will definitely not remind him of, say, Mickey Rivers.

Kyle the Schwarbarian. #NLCS

— MLB (@MLB) October 18, 2023

4. Party of Four

It may be late, but it’s not time to go! Just a few more tidbits you need to know.

HOW ’BOUT A NICE COOL NOLA — In Philadelphia, they’ve never seemed certain what to make of Aaron Nola, as consistently good as he’s been all these years. So here’s one more nugget for Philly to chew on, after Nola’s six shutout innings against the Diamondbacks on Tuesday, in what could easily be the final game he pitches in Philadelphia as a Phillie:

He has now made eight career postseason starts — and given up zero earned runs in half of them (while working through the sixth inning and beyond in all four of those starts).

So how many other pitchers in the history of postseason baseball have spun off that many starts of six innings or more and no earned runs over the first eight starts of their postseason career? Would you believe exactly one, according to STATS: Waite Hoyt, who also had four — but last pitched 85 years ago.

Advertisement

In fact, only six other starting pitchers have thrown more postseason starts like that (six-plus innings, no earned runs) over their entire careers — no matter how many starts they got: Madison Bumgarner (six), Tom Glavine (six), Justin Verlander (six), Andy Pettitte (six), Clayton Kershaw (five) and John Smoltz (five). Good group.

Oh, and why might this have been Nola’s final start as a Phillie in Philadelphia? If the Phillies make it to the World Series, and that Series begins at Texas, Nola would likely start Games 2 and 6 (if necessary) on the road … and then he heads for free agency, where who knows what could happen. So just passing all this along!

FOUR TIMES THREE EQUALS HISTORY — One more wild (and weird) nugget from STATS:

• The Phillies hit three home runs off Merrill Kelly on Tuesday.

• They hit three off Zac Gallen on Monday.

• They hit three off the Braves’ Spencer Strider in the last game of the NLDS.

• They hit three off AJ Smith-Shawver in the game before that.

So that’s four straight games with three home runs off an individual pitcher? You don’t see that a whole lot! Matter of fact, no team had done that over any four games in a row — in the regular season or postseason — in almost 130 years!

Last team to do it: Walt Wilmot’s 1894 Chicago Colts, on June 9-13, 1894! And we apologize for not embedding the video of that streak, but TikTok was glitching out that week, apparently!

BUT FOUR TIMES TWO ALSO EQUALS HISTORY — Speaking of those last four Phillies postseason games …

• Tuesday, it was Schwarber smoking two homers, for the first postseason multi-homer game of his career.

• In the last game of that series against the Braves, it was Nick Castellanos hitting two.

• And in the game before that, it was Castellanos and Bryce Harper both mashing two home runs deep into the South Philadelphia night.

Advertisement

So if you added along with that list at home, you know that’s four multi-homer games in a span of four postseason games. And how many teams have ever matched that feat? You’ve got it. Once again, that would be nada.

The 2009 Phillies ripped off four in a span of six postseason games. The 2002 Angels had four multi-homer games in a span of 11 games. But no other team has ever had four multi-homer games over any postseason. So Tuesday was just one more day of those sizzling Phillies hitters doing stuff we’ve never seen before. Amazing.

 A THREE-PEAT FOR MERRILL — And finally, there’s this wild (and weird) note from YES Network’s always-inventive James Smyth:

As we mentioned, Kelly served up three home runs Tuesday. So what’s the Weird and Wild part? He allowed three homers … but no other hits.

So did you know that in the history of postseason baseball, which began 120 years ago, only one other pitcher ever gave up three homers (or more) in a game but no other hits? And to find that other game, you’d have to travel way, way, way back to last week …

When Smith-Shawver did it in this same park … against this same lineup … last Wednesday. Because …

Baseball! … In October! … In Weird and Wild Philadelphia!

(Top photo of Trea Turner hitting a solo home run in the first inning of Game 2: Elsa / Getty Images)