The Phillies have won six straight games, so I feel it’s my job to drop a little public service announcement to fans.

Start planning those personal days for early October. Specifically, I’m thinking Friday, Oct. 7 — that’s two days after the final day of the regular season. After a 10-year postseason absence, you can’t get stuck at work and miss a 1:37 p.m. first pitch.

You’ve been warned.

I’m kidding. At least I think I’m kidding, but the Phillies have revived a season that appeared dead seven days ago, way back when Joe Girardi was leading what looked like a zombie parade. Whether or not this remarkable turnaround will prove sustainable remains to be seen, but after the Phillies bashed the Brewers 10-0 Wednesday night, you can’t help but be amazed by what has transpired in recent days.

The 2022 Phillies are carrying the story arc of a 1990s baseball movie:

  1. team sucks, everybody trashes it (April/May)
  2. team finds rallying point (Joe Girardi out/Rob Thomson in)
  3. team goes on crazy winning streak, season does a 180 degree turn (???)

Cue “Runaround Sue” and let the good times roll.

With the Phillies ripping it up right right now, let’s take a look at five different numbers that provide some insight into just how wild a week it has been.

Playoffs Odds

Following a dismal loss to the Giants on May 31 that took nearly five hours to complete, the Phillies fell to 21-29. FanGraphs had the Phillies’ postseason chances at 19.4 percent. Fast-forward to this morning, and the Phillies’ postseason odds have jumped all the way to 31.8 percent. They still have a long way to go, but at the very least, they’ve gotten themselves off the mat.

Let the Kid Play

I see everybody out there on Twitter and in sports talk radio land just pummeling Joe Girardi for keep players like Bryson Stott on the bench. In hindsight, which comes after Stott’s Sunday walk-off heroics and four-hit game last night, yeah, Girardi probably should have provided Stott with more consistent playing time sooner:

  • Bryson Stott hits in April: 4
  • Bryson Stott hits in May: 5
  • Bryson Stott hits Wednesday night: 4

The craziness doesn’t stop there:

After recording just one extra-base hit in his first 75 plate appearances, he has five extra-base hits in his last 28. He’s hitting .391 with a 1.266 OPS through the first eight days of the month while watching his OPS surge from .302 on May 31 to .556 entering play Thursday.

A June Surge

The Phillies started the month with a perfect 6-0 record. After sweeping the Angels, they’ve already ensured themselves of a series victory in Milwaukee, just their sixth series win of the season.

At worst, the Phillies will return to Citizens Bank Park this weekend at 27-30, notable in that such a record puts them within striking distance of getting on the plus side of .500 at some point during June.

A week ago, that felt seemingly impossible. Now, their six-game surge and favorable schedule makes it the expected outcome.

Starting Friday, the Phillies will play their next 13 games against teams with losing records. In fact, the Diamondbacks, Marlins, Nationals and Rangers currently hold a combined a .434 winning percentage. The obvious disclaimer here is that the Phillies struggled against some of baseball’s worst teams a season ago, but they do have a winning record (13-9) against teams with losing records this season.

Offense Is Clicking

Take a look at how the Phillies’ lineup stacked up in terms of some notable stats following their Tuesday night loss to the Giants last week:

  • batting average: .244 (11th)
  • on-base percentage: .310 (17th)
  • slugging percentage: .401 (9th)
  • OPS: .711 (11th)
  • ISO: .157 (10th)
  • runs per game: 4.49 (11th)

Here’s where the production lines up now:

  • batting average: .248 (9th)
  • on-base percentage: 315 (14th)
  • slugging percentage: .420 (4th)
  • OPS: .735 (6th)
  • ISO: .171 (4th)
  • runs per game: 4.80 (5th)

It’s a slow climb on some of these stats, but they have notably surged in OPS, ISO, slugging percentage, and runs per game in just a little over a week. Then again, I guess that’s to be expected after scoring an average of 7.8 runs per game since Rob Thomson became interim manager.

Great Starts

More often than not, the Phillies have gotten strong starting pitching this season. For context, Phillies starting pitchers have collected the National League’s highest WAR, per FanGraphs.

Here’s what the rotation has done through its first turn under Thomson: