Phillies

The Phillies Bullpen Had a Wretched Postseason

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Oct 10th, 2024 · 10:04 AM EDT

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Say what you will about the Phillies’ anemic offense, but the bullpen was equally horrendous in the four-game NLDS loss. The final stats:

• 11.37 ERA
• 66 batters faced
• 257 pitches thrown
• 20 hits
• 17 runs
• 4 home runs
• 1 grand slam
• 1 hit batter
• 2.13 WHIP
• .357 opponent batting average
• three wild pitches

Among the 12 playoff teams, four of which were eliminated in the Wild Card round, these are mostly the worst numbers across the board. The second-worst average was .267 (Astros) and second-worst ERA was 5.65 (Brewers).

Individually, Jeff Hoffman finished with a 40.50 ERA, allowing six earned runs on three hits over one and a third innings. Matt Strahm pitched two innings in which he allowed four earned runs on four hits for an 18.00 ERA and every relief pitcher that saw action gave up at least one run. That includes Tanner Banks, Jose Alvarado, Jose Ruiz, Carlos Estevez, and Orion Kerkering. The only Phillies pitchers, starter or reliever, to not allow a run in this series were Zack Wheeler and Ranger Suarez, the former throwing a Game 1 gem and the latter pulling some Houdini act to get himself out of trouble in Game 4.

Huge disappointment, obviously. Hoffman and Strahm were All Stars! Lights out all year, with a 2.17 and 1.87 ERA, respectively. They melted in Game 1 and weren’t any better as the series progressed. And this is a bullpen as a whole that put up a 3.94 ERA in the regular season, finishing middle of the pack despite Alvarado having a down year and Gregory Soto and Seranthony Dominguez spending half the season on the roster.