5 Things the Phillies must learn from the Braves’ championship season

With the Atlanta Braves winning their first World Series since 1995 on Tuesday night, the Philadelphia Phillies should be feeling the heat big-time.

After all, the Phillies were in first place in late July, when the Braves began surging back. Their eight-game win streak ended two days after the Braves finally became an above-.500 team on August 6.

After all

1. The Phillies need more than Bryce Harper

Bryce Harper’s incredible season made the Phillies relevant in September. From an offensive standpoint, he carried them closer to the finish line than they had been in a long time.

But Harper is not enough. This isn’t basketball, where a superstar can carry a team a la Jordan, LeBron, or Wilt Chamberlain with his 100-point game. If baseball was like that, the Phillies would be champs with Harper, and Mike Trout would have led the Angels to at least two World Series titles already. But alas.

When an ACL tear ended Ronald Acuña Jr.’s season, it wasn’t the end of the Braves’ season. If Harper had gotten hurt, the Phillies’ season would have been over.

But at the deadline, the Braves went out and got Joc Pederson, Jorge Soler, Adam Duvall, and Eddie Rosario. They bolstered the bullpen with Pirates reliever Richard Rodriguez, who I’d wanted the Phillies to go for in July.

What the Phillies need is depth. They need it from starters like Aaron Nola, who struggled to pitch deep into games, in the form of bench players who can come up clutch, and from their front office, who must provide said depth.

2. Bullpens win games

In the new era of pitching, a starter is considered good if he can consistently go five or six innings every turn through the rotation. The Phillies didn’t have much of that, but they also had one of the worst bullpens in the history of baseball, and that’s not hyperbole.

Until the very end of the season, the Phillies led MLB for most of the year in blown saves. They tied the all-time record of 34 blown saves set by the 2004 Colorado Rockies. Thankfully, the Washington Nationals swooped in and blew 35 saves for a new MLB record.

Meanwhile, Tyler Matzek was absolutely monstrous on the postseason mound for Atlanta. Dylan Lee made his first career big-league start in the World Series, which must be an utterly terrifying way to do it. He only recorded one out, but the Braves won anyway.

The Phillies must rebuild their bullpen this offseason. With an even remotely effective Arm Barn, they are a contending team.

4. The Phillies need to get younger

The Phillies have developed a reputation for being unable to develop prospects. At least they know how to develop something.

But in what feels like an over-correction, they’ve got too many players on the wrong side of 30.

Last offseason, the Phillies signed too many veterans. Matt Joyce, Brandon Kintzler, Chase Anderson, Neftali Feliz, and Matt Moore are all between 32-36 years old. Most of them didn’t even last the full season.

And when the Phillies did make moves at the deadline, they added Kyle Gibson (33) and Ian Kennedy (36).

Kennedy, Andrew McCutchen, Hector Neris, Moore, Freddy Galvis, David Hale, and Miller are all 31 or older. Aside from McCutchen, whose option the Phillies could pick up, they are all free agents now, and should likely stay that way.

The Phillies need to overhaul their player development, which is already in progress, but also think younger at the big-league level.

5. The Phillies need to believe in themselves more

While the Phillies did make a few moves at the deadline, including a mega-trade with the Texas Rangers to acquire three pitchers and some cash, they clearly could have done more.

When the Braves made their many moves at the deadline, they were a below-.500 team. But they made moves anyway, and look where they are now.

It’s obviously not as simple as collecting players like Beanie Babies, or throwing money at everyone (which clearly didn’t work for the Dodgers), but the contrast between how the Phillies pursued Harper and how they’ve built the team around him is stark. Nearly every pitcher they signed last offseason was either mediocre or terrible. It’s like they ran out of gas halfway through the race.

The front office needs to be aggressive. Dave Dombrowski, now in his first full offseason as their President of Baseball Operations, has more than enough experience as a shark. He’s built some of the best teams in baseball history, and the Phillies deserve to be added to that list.

But if the front office doesn’t believe that the team is worth upgrading, the team will continue staying home in October.