Phillies run production up substantially from 2016
Still completely unpredictable, you never know what you’re going to get from the Phillies. It’s a day by day adventure, but there seems to be an improvement
The Phillies have been an interesting watch so far this season. It is clear to see that this lineup is vastly better at scoring runs than last year’s squad and statistics support the eye test. Let’s break that down a little more using the first twenty-five games as a benchmark.
By The Numbers
The 2016 Phils scored just 82 runs through their first twenty-five games. In comparison, this year the Phils have pushed 119 runners across the plate. That’s good for a +37 run differential in the same amount of games.
Many of Philadelphia’s runs this season came April 8 when they scored 17 runs against the Nationals. The largest margin of victory at this point last season was just four runs in a 10-6 win over the Brewers. Meanwhile, they suffered three different losses by seven or more runs.
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Runs Per Game
Philadelphia managed to average just 3.28 runs per game in 2016.
In 2017? 4.76 runs per game. That +1.48 differential shows a substantial upturn in production for a team will little expectation for run scoring coming into the season.
Calculate that out over the course of the year and the team would be on pace to score their most runs in a season since 2010.
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The Phils Love 4
Coincidence or consistency? Philadelphia has scored exactly 4 runs in a game ten times this season. That’s good for 40% of all games and the most of any team with any run total. Given their runs per game average, the number makes perfect sense.
In fact, the Phils have scored four or more runs in 18 out of 25 or 72% of games this season. In contrast, last year’s team scored four or more runs in just 9 of the first 25 games.
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What does it all mean?
It means that the Phils are heading in the right direction. Although still full of rip-your-hair-out type of moments, the 2017 club is scoring runs at a clip that rivals some of the best years of Philadelphia baseball. Now, they just have to keep pace.
Statistics referenced from Baseball Reference.