Phillies Continue to Sweep Their Way to Franchise History

Party like it's 1892!

May 23, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Edmundo Sosa (33) and Bryson Stott (5) celebrate with Bryce Harper (3) and Alec Bohm (28) after a victory against the Texas Rangers at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports / Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

Philadelphia Phillies fans are partying like it's 1892 right now.

That's the last time the Phillies, who swept the Texas Rangers on Thursday, won at the rate that they have in their last 35 games played.

Philadelphia, 29-6 during that span, matched the 1892 club for the best 35-game stretch in franchise history. Back then, they were led by National Baseball Hall of Famers Tim Keefe, Ed Delahanty and Billy Hamilton.

When you're matching feats with a team that featured a player nicknamed Smiling Tim and played during an era when basketball and night games didn't even exist, you know it's an impressive and truly historical accomplishment.

The Phillies have swept seven of the last 12 series played. They own the best run differential, +93, in the big leagues. The lineup has scored the most runs and the starting pitching staff owns the best ERA in MLB, according to FanGraphs.

Which brings us to the elephant in the room.

Many critics of the Phillies have pointed to their schedule, the easiest in MLB in terms of ESPN's Relative Power Index, as a reason to delegitimize the club's record. Is it a fair point to make? Sure. It's also incredibly predictable and, as Jeff Passan so eloquently put it in this post on X, formerly Twitter, ultimately doesn't matter.

The Phillies, who advanced to the World Series in 2022 and the National League Championship Series in 2023, will ultimately be judged by what they do in October.

Until then, critics will judge them by what they do against teams that possess a winning percentage above .500. The Phillies play two such teams, the Milwaukee Brewers (28-21) and the Baltimore Orioles (30-18) in a a pair of series from June 3-5 and June 14-16, respectively.