What a huge difference a month can make in terms of performance. That was what exactly happened for the Philadelphia Phillies' bullpen in the first couple of months this season.
Entering 2024 as the top-ranked bullpen by MLB.com, the Phillies relievers had a disastrous start when they gave up a whopping 20 earned runs in their first five games of the year. On top of that, they also endured some struggles at times during the rest of the month of April.
Phillies' bullpen was downright filthy in May
But boy, has the relief corps come a long way since that early-season funk. The bullpen has started to lock things down more tightly in recent times, so much so that they put up insane numbers in May. To give an idea of how dominant the Phillies relievers have been, just take a look at these stats:
Phillies Bullpen in May
— Luke Arcaini (@ArcainiLuke) May 30, 2024
Matt Strahm: 0.00 ERA
Jeff Hoffman: 0.93 ERA
Seranthony Dominguez: 1.04 ERA
Jose Ruiz: 1.64 ERA
Orion Kerkering: 2.13 ERA
Jose Alvarado: 2.31 ERA
Gregory Soto: 3.53 ERA pic.twitter.com/7AnHNcW8NW
Matt Strahm led the way by giving up zero earned runs during the whole month, while four relievers held their ERA below 2.00. Outside of Spencer Turnbull, no one had an ERA above 3.52, which was owned by Gregory Soto. Overall, the collective posted an MLB-best 2.13 ERA for the month and had also just two blown saves during that time.
No wonder the Phillies have been running away with the NL East with their big 20-win May. If they had the lead before handing it over to the bullpen, the game was practically over with those unbelievable numbers put up by the “super seven.”
Starting pitcher Aaron Nola gave a glowing review of the bullpen in a recent interview, per MLB.com's Paul Casella.
“Best bullpen I've ever been a part of,” Nola exclaimed.
Considering that the Phillies' 3.74 bullpen ERA currently ranks 13th in the league and has blown a total of eight saves on the year despite the dominating month of May, it clearly highlights their dramatic turnaround in a month’s time. The way that the relief corps is pitching now truly justifies their MLB.com preseason No. 1 bullpen ranking.
Hopefully, this will be how the bullpen will perform for the rest of the season. If that is indeed the case, the Phillies can gracefully book their ticket for the postseason and perhaps even beyond that.