Phillies Platoon Provides Plenty of Power

As the Phillies try to close out the NL East Division and prepare for the postseason, manager Rob Thomson made strategical move that looks like a simple stroke of genius. He's gone to an outfield rotation between five outfielders, and basing his lineups on righty or lefty match-ups. And even though we've only gotten a small sample size thus far, it certainly paid off against the Miami Marlins on Friday.

In the Phillies' 9-3 victory, that platoon provided a power surge, with all three starting outfielders hitting home runs in the game. Max Kepler, Brandon Marsh, and Harrison Bader all knocked one out of the park in Philadelphia's convincing win. Kepler hit his shot in the second inning, while Marsh and Bader went back-to-back.

“It was a good game,” Thomson said. “Everybody in the lineup had a hit tonight. Four home runs, that was huge. We saw 186 pitches; that was huge. I thought we had good at-bats through and through.”

"That’s pretty cool,” Marsh said of the outfielders' achievement. “I heard it was the first time since [‘22] that Philly did it. And that’s pretty cool. Kepler, good at-bat, Bader, good at-bat, and we try to feed off each other.”

While no player wants to sit, Max Kepler stated that it has enabled to him to prepare differently for when his turn comes around. He, and his teammates, appear to have embraced the platoon situation, and they've had success.

“I think I sat four games in a row [at some point in the first half],” Kepler said, “and I had to accept [it] and swallow the ego, and understand that this is for the big picture, to win a World Series. Personally, on the days where I wasn’t playing, I just took BP and did as much as I could when it came to swinging to stay locked in visually."

The Phillies have Great Chemistry Heading into the Postseason