Phillies: Ranking the best opening day lineups of 2010s

Which Phillies team put out the best opening day lineup during the last decade?

Opening Day is right around the corner, so we’re breaking down the best Phillies lineups from the last decade.

Here’s what we’re looking at with these lineups: Who started, how did the opening day game go, and how did the season go in its entirety? We couldn’t just focus on how one game went, we had to look at the season as a whole for the offense and how things shook out over a 162 game season.

*TBOH co-editor Matt Rappa also contributed to this project

10. April 4, 2016

By far, the worst opening day lineup of the last decade was the 2016 lineup, which featured nine players who are no longer with the big league team just four years later.

1. Cesar Hernandez, 2B
2. Odubel Herrera, CF
3. Maikel Franco, 3B
4. Ryan Howard, 1B
5. Carlos Ruiz, C
6. Cedric Hunter, LF
7. Peter Bourjos, RF
8. Freddy Galvis, SS
9. Jeremy Hellickson, P

The Phillies would score just two runs in the sixth inning thanks to a Freddy Galvis home run off now-closer Raisel Iglesias.

The lineup went 6-33 that day with four starters (Ryan Howard, Odubel Herrera, Peter Bourjos, and Cedric Hunter) each going hitless. Pinch-hitters (get this) Emmanuel Burriss and Darin Ruf also went 0-2 in their season debuts.

Jeremy Hellickson had a strong outing with six innings of three-hit, one unearned run baseball, but David Hernandez and James Russell would allow five runs in the eighth inning to blow the game.

This game was a tell-tale sign of what to expect from the 2016 Phillies.

While they improved by eight games from the year before, this year’s Phillies finished in fourth place with 71 wins. They had the third-fewest hits in baseball with just over 1,300, struck out 1,376 times, had 161 home runs, and hit just .240, the second-worst average in baseball.

Bourjos and Hunter are now trivia questions, because who could have possibly named those two if you asked who the opening day corner outfielders were in 2016? Ruiz and Howard have since retired, Hernandez and Franco signed one-year deals in the American League, and Herrera is in the minors after a domestic violence suspension.

9. April 3, 2017

The Phillies entered the 2017 season with some momentum. In 2016, they had won eight more games than the previous season, and MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki writes, “the organization expects the future to be better because of a strong farm system and the potential of players already on the big league roster.”

As it turns out, three years later, hardly any of these players would amount to much long-term, other than Aaron Nola and Rhys Hoskins.

Maikel Franco has since departed for the Kansas City Royals; Odubel Herrera remains on the brink of being released following last year’s suspension; and right-handers Jerad Eickhoff and Vince Velasquez never panned out as starters, with the former now with the San Diego Padres.

Also, J.P. Crawford and Dylan Cozens are now with American League organizations, and Nick Williams is at the bottom of the Phillies’ outfielder depth chart.

Still, in 2017, some of these aforementioned players would contribute, such as Franco’s team-leading 24 home runs and 76 RBI, along with Herrera’s team-leading 42 doubles. Nonetheless, it would be far from enough, as the 2017 Phillies won just 66 games and finished last in the National League East.

One of those 66 wins came on Opening Day 2017.

1. Cesar Hernandez, 2B
2. Howie Kendrick, LF
3. Odubel Herrera, CF
4. Maikel Franco, 3B
5. Michael Saunders, RF
6. Tommy Joseph, 1B
7. Cameron Rupp, C
8. Freddy Galvis, SS
9. Jeremy Hellickson, P

Behind veteran starting pitcher Jeremy Hellickson, the Phillies got out to an early 3-0 lead after the first two innings. Cesar Hernandez began the game with a leadoff home run, and, later in the frame, Michael Saunders produced an RBI double to center field. One inning later, Freddy Galvis hit a homer of his own, giving the Phillies a three-run advantage.

Hellickson would allow only one run through five innings, a sacrifice fly RBI to Billy Hamilton. The Phillies tacked on an insurance run in the sixth, as the Phillies starter helped his own cause with an RBI triple to center field.

Jeanmar Gomez entered in the ninth with a 4-1 lead, and things would get interesting, as he surrendered a two-out, two-run home run to Scooter Gennett. He would get Hamilton to fly out the next batter, however, notching the Opening Day win for the Phillies.

8. April 1, 2013

The 2013 Phillies didn’t really know what they were going into the season. Were they fighting for another playoff run, or were they a team on the verge of a rebuild that was giving young players their opportunity?

We see this with the acquisitions of Ben Revere and Michael Young paired with Domonic Brown and John Mayberry starting in the outfield.

1. Ben Revere, CF
2. Jimmy Rollins, SS
3. Chase Utley, 2B
4. Ryan Howard, 1B
5. Michael Young, 3B
6. Domonic Brown, LF
7. John Mayberry, RF
8. Erik Kratz, C
9. Cole Hamels, P

As fans would come to know, this season was the start of a rebuild that started on opening day with a 7-5 loss in Atlanta.

Atlanta got to Cole Hamels early, hitting three home runs and scoring five runs in as many innings off the Phillies starter. Dan Uggla and Freddie Freeman got it going early with their home runs before Chase Utley responded in the fourth with his 200th career home run going to straight-away center field.

Utley would drive in two more runs in the fifth and scored on a Ryan Howard groundout in the seventh. He finished a double short of the cycle, but it wasn’t enough against the Braves.

Ryan Howard and Michael Young combined to go 0-7 with two strikeouts and two walks, while the Brown-Revere-Mayberry outfield went just 3-11.

Chad Durbin would allow two runs, but Jeremy Horst and Philippe Aumont pitched three shutout innings out of the bullpen.

The 2013 team was the end of an era capped off with the firing of Charlie Manuel after 120 games. They’d win just 73 games under Manuel and interim manager Ryne Sandberg, finishing in fourth place, their worst finish since being dead-last in 2000.

The lineup still had some solid names behind it with Utley, Howard, Ruiz, Revere, and Rollins. Injuries got the best of the team, and they finished below league-average in hits, doubles, runs, home runs, and batting average. Only three other teams scored fewer runs (610) than the Phillies that season.

7. March 29, 2018

As we all now know, the Gabe Kapler-led Phillies era did not end well; and, also in hindsight, its beginning was hardly any better.

The 2018 Opening Day contest opposite the Atlanta Braves at SunTrust Park was Kapler’s first as manager of the Phillies, and despite having a 5-0 lead nearly two-thirds of the way through the game, the Phillies found themselves outscored 8-0 en route to the disappointing loss.

So much went wrong, particularly Kapler infamously replacing starting pitcher Aaron Nola despite him throwing just 68 pitches, and that the skipper tried to call in a Phillies pitcher before him being fully warmed up in the bullpen.

1. Cesar Hernandez, 2B
2. Carlos Santana, 1B
3. Nick Williams, RF
4. Rhys Hoskins, LF
5. Aaron Altherr, CF
6. J.P. Crawford, SS
7. Maikel Franco, 3B
8. Andrew Knapp, C
9. Aaron Nola, P

Cleanup hitter Rhys Hoskins got the Phillies on the board early with a two-out RBI double to right field in the top of the first, scoring new Phillies first baseman Carlos Santana.

That would be the game’s only running through five innings; Nola cruised at that point, allowing no runs. Braves starting pitcher Julio Teheran had allowed just the one run, but would be charged for three more in the top of the sixth. Second baseman Cesar Hernandez began the frame with a solo home run, causing Teheran to unravel. Despite getting the next two batters out, he would hit Hoskins and walk center fielder Aaron Altherr. Reliever Rex Brothers entered and likewise walked shortstop J.P. Crawford, loading the bases, before Maikel Franco walked again with the bases loaded. The next batter, catcher Andrew Knapp hit a two-run single.

Now, the Phillies had a 5-0 lead, but that the game would be far from over. Nola allowed a leadoff double to Ender Inciarte in the next half-inning, and, despite getting Ozzie Albies to fly out, Kapler replaced the right-hander with southpaw Hoby Milner. The left-hander’s very first batter faced, Freddie Freeman, went took him yard, shrinking the Phillies’ lead to three runs.

In the bottom of the eighth, the Braves added three more runs while facing LHP Adam Morgan and RHP Edubray Ramos, tying the game at 5. Then, in the ninth, the game ultimately swayed in favor of the Braves.

Right-hander Hector Neris entered, and despite having two outs with runners on first and second, he would surrender a walk-off, three-run home run to outfielder Nick Markakis to deep right-center. The three-hour, 28-minute game was a swing of emotions, yet the one that remains in the memories of the Phillies faithful is Markakis’ home run.

The Phillies would have their first real chance of qualifying for the postseason since 2011 under Kapler in 2018, yet they would not get close enough. The 2019 season ended in similar fashion, causing the Phillies to part ways with the skipper after just two seasons.

6. April 5, 2012

The 2012 season was the last truly competitive year for the Phillies of the late 2000s/early 2010s.

It featured a combination of the old regime mixed in with newly-acquired veterans and young players looking for their shot. This would be the first game back for Placido Polanco and the start of the Freddy Galvis era in Philadelphia.

1. Shane Victorino, CF
2. Placido Polanco, 3B
3. Jimmy Rollins, SS
4. Hunter Pence, RF
5. Ty Wigginton, 1B
6. John Mayberry, LF
7. Carlos Ruiz, C
8. Freddy Galvis, 2B
9. Roy Halladay, P

Of course, any game you sent Roy Halladay out in you know there’s a good shot of winning, no matter how rough the offense is.

Halladay threw eight two-hit innings against Pittsburgh, striking out five and hitting two.

The stalemate was broken on a very unexciting play: a Carlos Ruiz lineup that brought in Ty Wigginton in the top of the seventh inning. That’s all they needed to get by Pittsburgh on opening day.

Philadelphia did manage eight hits, the majority coming off starter Erik Bedard from the bats of Ruiz and John Mayberry Jr. who had five combined.

Polanco, Victorino, Pence, and Galvis each went hitless.

While the opening day lineup had the luster of names such as Victorino, Pence, and Polanco, they ultimately fell short of making the playoffs for the first time since 2006. They scored only four more runs than the pitchers allowed, and were below average in hits, doubles, home runs, and batting average compared to the rest of baseball.

4. March 31, 2014

The start to the 2014 season for the Phillies was filled with a sense of hope, despite coming off of two straight seasons of not reaching the postseason.

Outfielder Domonic Brown was coming off of his All-Star season in which he slugged 27 home runs and 83 RBI, while the team recently bolstered their rotation with the signing of 15-year veteran A.J. Burnett, who beat them in the 2009 World Series as a member of the New York Yankees.

Also, that offseason, the Phillies brought back outfielder Marlon Byrd, who began his career in red pinstripes from 2002 to 2005; Byrd would go on to lead the 2014 Phillies in home runs (25), and, relying on him could be one of the reasons why they failed to qualify for the postseason.

1. Ben Revere, CF
2. Jimmy Rollins, SS
3. Chase Utley, 2B
4. Ryan Howard, 1B
5. Marlon Byrd, RF
6. Domonic Brown, DH
7. Carlos Ruiz, C
8. Cody Asche, 3B
9. Tony Gwynn Jr., LF

Starting pitcher: Cliff Lee

The rare interleague season opener would feature 24 runs between the Phillies and Texas Rangers. The Phillies rallied for six runs in the second, and, with starter Cliff Lee on the mound, one would think the game was already theirs for the taking. It would be easier said than done.

In the second, the Phillies’ six runs came via an RBI double by Cody Asche, an RBI single by Ben Revere, and a grand slam by Jimmy Rollins. Then, Lee would struggle against his former team, allowing four runs in the latter half, and three in the third, causing the Phillies to trail 7-6, just one-third of the way through the contest.

The Phillies put up three more unanswered runs across the fourth and fifth thanks to Chase Utley’s RBI single and John Mayberry Jr.’s two-RBI double. Lee would allow one more run, his eighth, but the Phillies made sure to back their southpaw, scoring four more in the sixth, highlighted by Byrd’s solo home run.

Two more runs from the Rangers in the seventh would not be enough, as the Phillies added another in the eighth to cap off a 14-10 win. The Phillies outhit their American League West opponent, 17-14.

Despite their high hopes, the Phillies would just 72 more games that season under Ryne Sandberg, en route to a last-place finish in the division. In fact, 2014 would be the only full season Sandberg would manage the Phillies, as he took over for Charlie Manuel in 2013, and would be replaced just 74 games into the 2015 season by Pete Mackanin.

3. April 1, 2011

The Phillies were coming off of four straight postseason appearances after having not appeared in “Red October” since the 1993 season. Most recently, in 2010, they disappointingly fell to the eventual-World Series champion San Francisco Giants in the NLCS, four games to two.

High expectations entered the season, particularly since general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. put together a formidable starting rotation that featured Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt, Cole Hamels, and Joe Blanton. Halladay, coming off of a Cy Young Award season, would get the first starting nod among the group in 2011.

1. Shane Victorino, CF
2. Placido Polanco, 3B
3. Jimmy Rollins, SS
4. Ryan Howard, 1B
5. Raul Ibanez, LF
6. Ben Francisco, RF
7. Carlos Ruiz, C
8. Wilson Valdez, 2B
9. Roy Halladay, P

Second basemen Chase Utley and once-top prospect Domonic Brown were both absent from the game due to injuries, yet the Phillies did not seem to miss their bats.

Although, the club trailed 4-0 heading into the bottom of the seventh, highlighted by former Phillie Michael Bourn’s two-run triple opposite reliever David Herndon.

Halladay did not disappoint coming off of his first full season in red pinstripes; in the contest, opposite former Phillies starting pitcher and 2008 World Series champion Brett Myers, Doc struck out six batters over six innings and allowed just one run and five hits en route to the no-decision.

Then, the Phillies would score five unanswered runs, including three in the ninth, to win the game in walk-off fashion. The team cut their 4-0 deficit in half in the seventh thanks to “small ball,” including Ryan Howard’s sacrifice fly and Raul Ibanez’s RBI groundout.

In the ninth, Jimmy Rollins and Howard began the frame with back-to-back singles. Ibanez then recorded the inning’s first and only out, but Rollins would steal third to put runners on the corners for Ben Francisco. The outfielder, acquired from the Cleveland Indians in 2009 along with Cliff Lee, did not disappoint, as he laced a RBI single to score Rollins and advance Howard to second.

Wilson Valdez knotted the game at four with a RBI single of his own, setting up pinch-hitter John Mayberry Jr.’s heroics, another RBI base knock, securing the Phillies their first of what would be a franchise-best 102 wins during the 2011 season.

2. March 28, 2019

The 2019 season was the beginning of a new era in Phillies baseball with the arrivals of Bryce Harper and J.T. Realmuto. The new faces of the franchise came with much pomp and circumstance on opening day and the era got off to a fast start.

1. Andrew McCutchen, LF
2. Jean Segura, SS
3. Bryce Harper, RF
4. Rhys Hoskins, 1B
5. J.T. Realmuto, C
6. Odubel Herrera, CF
7. Cesar Hernandez, 2B
8. Maikel Franco, 3B
9. Aaron Nola, P

There was no better way to start the new era of Phillies baseball than how Andrew McCutchen did, launching a lead-off home run deep into left-center field.

The Phillies tacked on more runs in the fourth with RBI singles from Odubel Herrera and Cesar Hernandez, making it 3-1 off Julio Teheran.

In the sixth inning, Maikel Franco clobbered a three-run home run while batting in the eight-hole, setting off another frenzy of thinking that he finally found himself.

What really sealed the deal was a grand slam in the seventh inning from Rhys Hoskins, which made it a seven-run game for the Phillies.

Aaron Nola also came out of the gate strong, going six innings allowing one run off two hits and eight strikeouts, although he did walk five batters.

Early in the 2019 season opponents could not get the Phillies out thanks to a stacked lineup that was churning on all levels. McCutchen’s torn ACL threw all of that into wack, especially Jean Segura, whose base-running blunder caused the injury.

The Phillies ultimately finished the season below league average in hits, home runs, and batting average, but on opening day their lineup was fantastic. Had they stayed healthy, their numbers would have been off the charts.

1. April 5, 2010

Coming off their second-consecutive National League pennant the 2010 Phillies had goals of reclaiming the title of World Series Champion. This time they had a future Hall of Famer and Cy Young candidate on the mound in Roy Halladay making his Phillies debut.

Here’s a look at the opening day lineup from April 5, 2010 when the Phillies faced the then-lowly Washington Nationals:

1. Jimmy Rollins, SS
2. Placido Polanco, 3B
3. Chase Utley, 2B
4. Ryan Howard, 1B
5. Jayson Werth, RF
6. Raul Ibanez, LF
7. Shane Victorino, CF
8. Carlos Ruiz, C
9. Roy Halladay, P

To say this game was a rout would be an understatement. The Phillies lineup outpowered the Nationals by 10 runs, winning Halladay’s Phillies debut 11-1 on the road against a division rival.

As would often happen with Halladay, he gave up the first run of the game, this one off a Ryan Zimmerman RBI double that drove in Nyjer Morgan (how’s that for a throwback!).

Doc would settle in after the first, striking out nine in seven innings with just six hits and two walks allowed.

The Phillies offense put on a clinic, starting with a five-run fourth inning powered by a Ryan Howard home run. Halladay, Shane Victorino, and Placido Polanco also drove in runs in that inning, Halladay getting an RBI single off future teammate John Lannan.

Jimmy Rollins and Polanco would each drive in a run in the sixth, and Polanco added onto his great reunion game with a seventh-inning grand slam off Jason Bergmann.

Antonio Bastardo, Danys Baez, and David Herndon (all blasts from the past) finished off the game, the first of 97 wins that season.

In 2010 the Phillies would have the ninth-most home runs (166) and score the seventh-most runs (772) in all of baseball. Unfortunately, they’d fall to the Giants in the National League Championship series.