PHILADELPHIA — Matt Strahm allowed two runs on Opening Day, and in the 54 days since, he has tossed 20 1/3 scoreless innings. (He would prefer no one mention the streak.) He is here to do everything, and he has done his job. He entered Wednesday’s game in the fifth inning to extinguish a rally, then pitched the sixth to preserve a three-run lead.
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The Phillies won again, and it was not close.
They are 50 games into this thing — a thing that has never started like this in 142 years of Phillies baseball. The Phillies have won 36 of their first 50 games for the first time ever. They have entered a rare stratosphere before Memorial Day. Every team wants to win. Many teams think they can win. A few teams expect to win.
Some know they can win.
“It just speaks volumes about the players and how they go about their job every day,” Strahm said after an 11-4 win over the Texas Rangers. “I mean, it’s one thing coming to the yard knowing you’re going to win. But coming in the yard knowing how you’re going to win, that’s a different thing.”
Bryce 💣 BOMB 💣 pic.twitter.com/UP6mNeTneI
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) May 23, 2024
The Phillies clubhouse, Strahm said, is built for this. There are expectations — and they are set at 2 p.m., not 6:40 p.m. The Phillies, a franchise that has stared into the abyss for much of its existence, have created a culture that demands something greater. They are all convinced they should have won last year, that this week should have been a World Series rematch. They talked and talked and talked about beginning this season stronger. Then they authored the best 50-game start by a Major League Baseball team since the 2001 Seattle Mariners.
“What did they do?” Phillies manager Rob Thomson asked a reporter Wednesday night.
They won 116 games.
“But what did they do at the end?” Thomson said.
They did not win it all.
“That’s right,” Thomson said. “So you have to keep going. You know? You just have to keep grinding. Keep pushing. All the way through.”
So, the Phillies would rather not talk about the great start anymore. No one in the dugout has discussed the soft schedule because baseball teams are not supposed to win 72 percent of the time, no matter who they play.
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Only 25 teams since 1901 had won 36 of their first 50 games before the Phillies did it. Nineteen of those teams finished with 100 wins. All but three finished with 96 wins. Only one — the 1911 Detroit Tigers — failed to reach 90 wins. The Phillies have banked wins at a rate that makes basic math appealing. They can go .500 for the remainder of the season and win 91 games.
This is Strahm’s point. He’s been in the majors with four organizations. He has seen good and bad. He came to the Phillies a year ago on a two-year contract that rival evaluators panned, has settled in Delaware County like any long-haired man who likes his open space, and signed an extension this spring.
The people who want to be here are here. They are talented. They know their job. They know the expectation.
“It’s a work environment thing,” Strahm said. “I mean, everybody’s experienced it. They don’t need to experience it on the level of Major League Baseball. But everyone’s had those five years of work where they were just super enjoyable because of the environment.
“I think that’s what we have here.”
Brandon Marsh described it as a “humble confidence.” The left fielder will feel it during games when the Phillies fall behind early. He feels it whenever a Phillies starter leaves with a lead. Sometimes, he feels it when Alec Bohm bats with runners on base.
But it’s most noticeable hours before the Phillies are on the field.
“The feeling’s cool walking into the ballpark, just having that winning mentality,” Marsh said. “It’s very contagious. And we’re feeding off each other big time right now. There’s peaks and valleys in this game, no doubt. We are doing a good job of taking care of what we need to do. Nights when we should win, we go out there and we get it done. The nights that are going to be a grind, we try to thug it out the best that we can.”
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This is the one thing that can come from a historic start.
“They’re very confident,” Thomson said. “Right now, it really doesn’t matter what type of game we’re in. They feel like somebody is going to do something to get it done. And that’s a good feeling to have.”
When you're hot 🤷♂️ you're hot. pic.twitter.com/OjPNED4wbw
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) May 23, 2024
Remember the narratives from the winter: The Phillies ran it back; their biggest offseason expenditure was re-signing Aaron Nola. They passed on other upgrades to the rotation and bullpen. The only position player they added was Whit Merrifield, and he is relegated to the bench.
The Phillies are 102-60 in their last 162 regular-season games. This is why they chose this path again.
“I feel like we know each other really well,” Marsh said. “We all know our roles. It’s just a good recipe for success. People know what guys they’re playing against, when they’re coming in and stuff like that. It’s a good recipe that we got going right now. We just have to keep riding it out as long as we can.”
Because, as Marsh observed in his unmistakable style, “this game will pick you up and throw you around the second you feel like you’re King Kong.”
No one has to tell the Phillies that. They will live forever with the sting of last year’s National League Championship Series. A failure like that can bury a franchise. Had the Phillies not pounced on a lenient schedule to begin 2024, the doubts would have gotten louder and louder. This is why Thomson emphasized a better start. It’s why he has managed with more aggression at times in these first 50 games.
The Phillies have not chased pitches like they did last year. They have not dug a massive hole like they did in each of the past two seasons. And when they trail, there is no panic.
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It is unsettling to a city that knows heartbreak. But there is a deal a fan base makes with its baseball team every year: It wants to be entertained for six months. Seven would be incredible. But summer is nothing without the confidence that every night, the Phillies might do something special.
To Strahm, it is quite simple.
“It’s the contagiousness of wanting to do your job,” he said, “and knowing what your job is.”
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(Top photo of the Phillies after Wednesday’s win: Tim Nwachukwu / Getty Images)
