Can the Phillies’ Ranger Suárez repeat his dominant postseason in 2023?
The National League East is quickly becoming a gauntlet among Major League Baseball’s divisions. Last season, the Philadelphia Phillies won their way to the World Series, while the New York Mets and Atlanta Braves each won more than 100 games in the regular season.
With a division appearing to be so close on paper, could Phillies starting pitcher Ranger Suárez be what tips the scales in favor of manager Rob Thomson’s squad?
And while we already know that starting pitchers Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler are a duo that can help lead the Phillies to the World Series, the Mets and Braves have talented duos of their own. Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer have joined forces in Queens. Then there is Max Fried and Spencer Strider, who will look to avoid being a “one-and-done” team in the postseason again for the Braves.
This is where Suárez becomes incredibly important to the 2023 Phillies team. The left-hander pitched spectacularly in the postseason and has the potential to give his team the deepest starting rotation in the National League East.
While Suárez’s sample size from October and November was small, there is a lot to suggest that the 27-year-old still has his best baseball ahead of him.
Suárez had an incredible postseason ERA of 1.23, as well as a Walks And Hits Per Inning Pitched (WHIP) of 1.02. However, he has displayed incredible command in different ways since entering the majors for the first time in July 2018.