What have we learned in the opening quarter of Phillies' 2020 season?

Friday's 6-5 victory against the New York Mets marked the one-quarter mark of the 60-game regular season sprint for the Philadelphia Phillies. Following their sweep of the Mets (and given one of the few off days remaining on the Phillies' calendar, we believe now is a good time to look back and see just how the Phillies are doing. Schedule Shuffle When the Phillies' 2020 season officially began against the Marlins on July 24th, everyone knew how fragile the season was. What no one expected, however, was that the first teams to shutdown would do so after three games. Phillies fans already despised how the Marlins had the Phillies' number taking two of three to start the season, but a new hatred for the South Beach fish was born. One week and seven postponed games later, the Phillies returned to action with an adjusted schedule including seven doubleheaders. The Phillies split series against both the Yankees and Braves, demonstrating an ugly bullpen with an offense that will try to cover the gaps. The Baltimore Orioles have been the butt of many jokes for years as the worst team in the American League. In their series against the Phillies, the O's made the Phils look like a Little League team. After embarrassingly being swept by the Orioles, the Phillies made the Mets feel their pain by sweeping them right outta Philly.

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NL East Standings

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	L10
Miami Marlins	9	6	.600	-	5-5
Atlanta Braves	13	10	.565	-	5-5
Philadelphia Phillies	8	9	.471	2.0	5-5
Washington Nationals	8	11	.421	3.0	4-6
New York Mets	9	14	.391	4.0	4-6

It is absolutely shocking that the Marlins are leading the NL East. This will eventually change. The makeshift Marlins' taxi squad will eventually give way, and the division will begin to take form. Currently, the division is open for anyone to take. The Offense Bryce Harper and J.T. "Pay Him" Realmuto are looked upon as the leaders of the team offensively. They have proven why over the course of the Phillies' first 17 games. Harper is hitting for the second-highest OPS in the league (1.165). Realmuto is tied for fourth in pro baseball with eight home runs. The two have combined to be the most explosive three-four combo in the East. Phillies fans have been quick to ridicule 1B Rhys Hoskins for his dreadful start to the season. On paper, he has not done well. He has only hit one home run while slashing .208/.408/.283. But, he has tallied 16 walks. He is also currently on a three-game hitting streak, including two doubles and four RBI. Andrew McCutchen and Scott Kingery, however, have not been doing well. Cutch has yet to return to his 2019 season-form. He hit his first home run of the season yesterday but remains below the Mendoza line with a .192 average and a .528 OPS. Kingery has been even less impressive with a .128 average and a .308 OPS. Kingery has yet to reach 100% health following his recovery from COVID-19. While he does not use this as an excuse, it is most certainly a factor affecting his poor performance. Rookie Alec Bohm has made his presence known in Philadelphia since his debut on August 13th. In four games, Bohm has reached base five times (four hits, one walk). While he has yet to hit a home run, he is proving that he can adjust to Major League pitching. Batting in the bottom half of the order, there is less pressure on Bohm, allowing him to adjust to the Majors in a less stressful situation. As a team, the Phillies's offense owns the second-highest OPS in the league at .803. The team has scored an average of 5.29 runs per game, the sixth best in the league. Given the inconsistent numbers of games played throughout the league, the Phillies are not among the league leaders in runs scored or home runs. Regardless, they are keeping pace with some of the best teams in the league. Continued on the page below. Photo by Gregory Fisher/Icon Sportswire Starting Pitching Before getting into the bad news that is the Phillies' bullpen, let's address how strong the Phillies' starters have been. Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler have been phenomenal so far this season, pitching for respective 2.05 and 2.81 ERA's. Nola has struck out 37 batters in 27.1 innings, dominating the competition. Wheeler has allowed 31 baserunners in 25.2 innings but has been effective in getting out of James, keeping the competition to only eight earned runs. In the three and four spots in the rotation are Jake Arrieta and Zach Eflin. The two have done well, earning respective 4.02 and 3.60 ERA's, but have only pitched an average of five innings per start. Given how the Phillies' bullpen is, this could be problematic if it continues, but Joe Girardi is playing it safe with his starters early on. Starting pitchers work up to their maximum workload throughout a regular Spring Training. Given the Phillies' short Summer Camp and a one-week pause where no practices could take place, Girardi is hesitant to allow his starters to go deeper into games just yet. Spencer Howard and Vince Velasquez are the remaining two starting pitchers. In a normal season, they would be battling each other for the fifth starter role. In this season, however, there is room for both. With the lack of off days and multiple doubleheaders, a sixth starter is exactly what the Phillies will need to keep the rotation on a normal resting schedule. Both pitchers possess a 7.88 ERA having allowed seven runs in eight innings pitched each. Rookie Spencer Howard continues to develop and adjust at the Major League level. The Phillies would have liked to have let him pitch in AAA Lehigh Valley this season before calling him up, but the Minor League season did not happen, so bringing him up was the only logical choice to continue his development. Velasquez, meanwhile, could be fighting for his job moving forward as he may be one bad start away from joining fellow SP-rejects Adam Morgan and Nick Pivetta in the Phillies' collective bullpen. The Bullpen They're bad. That's it. That's the story! It would be easy to say that and move on, but that may be a disservice to the bullpen. Heading into their series against the Mets, the bullpen owned an atrocious 10.12 ERA. But, the pen only allowed three earned runs in 9.2 innings throughout the Mets' series, dropping their collective ERA to 8.77. That ERA is still the worst in the league (second worst belonging to Gabe Kapler's San Francisco Giants at 6.52), but it shows a drastic improvement. Hector Neris, Tommy Hunter, Deolis Guerra, and Adam Morgan all need to show a continual improving trend, but things are looking a lot better than they did a few days ago for this bullpen. Factor in that David Robertson and Ranger Suarez are inching towards their return, and this Phillies' bullpen may at least be able to hold their own soon enough. With two weeks to go until the trade deadline as well, keep an eye out for some potential trades as the Phillies' try to improve the bullpen even more. Projections

Team	GP	Runs Scored	Runs Against	Projected Record
Atlanta Braves	23	112	97	33-27
Miami Marlins	15	69	62	32-28
Philadelphia Phillies	17	90	93	29-31
Washington Nationals	19	85	89	28-32
New York Mets	23	99	120	24-36

Given their performance through the first 17 games, the Phillies are projected to go 29-31. However, there are important trends to be aware of. The Marlins are beginning to stumble and the Braves are remaining three games above .500. Meanwhile Rhys Hoskins is heating up and the Phillies' bullpen is starting to find their footing. Within their next 13 games, the Phillies play their final six of the season against the Braves. If the Phillies can capitalize on both three-game sets and take two of three each time, they will be in position to take over the NL East heeading into what could be a hectic September. Photo by Gregory Fisher/Icon Sportswire