Inside The Phillies

2024 Philadelphia Phillies Resemble Previous World Series Champs

Are the 2024 Philadelphia Phillies championship-bound?

Tyler Maher

The Philadelphia Phillies have something in common with previous World Series champions.
The Philadelphia Phillies have something in common with previous World Series champions. / Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
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For the first time in 2024, the Philadelphia Phillies are a .500 ballclub.

The Phillies evened their record at 4-4 on Saturday with a 5-2 win over the Washington Nationals, winning back-to-back games for the first time this year. Since dropping its first two games of the season, Philadelphia has rebounded to win four of its last six.

That may not sound like much of an accomplishment, but it's encouraging to see the Phillies at .500 given their recent history of slow starts.

Last year, Philadelphia struggled early on without Bryce Harper and was still below .500 into mid-June. The year before that, the Phillies were 21-29 at the end of May, costing manager Joe Girardi his job in early June.

Both times, Philadelphia recovered to make the playoffs, but it's fair to wonder if either season would have ended differently if the team had gotten off to a better start.

So while a .500 record through eight games isn't anything to brag about, it still qualifies as improvement. It also matches Phillies' record at the same point during their two previous championship seasons.

For what it's worth, Philadelphia also started the 1980 and 2008 campaigns 4-4 and ended up winning the World Series both years, proving that it sometimes pays off to avoid slow starts.

There's still a long way to go, but wins in April count just as much as wins in September. The Phillies need to play well wire-to-wire if they want to finally dethrone the Atlanta Braves and win their first division title since 2011.

The Braves suddenly look vulnerable with Saturday's news that Spencer Strider will likely miss the rest of the season with an elbow injury. If Philadelphia can capitalize with a strong start, maybe this season will end with a strong finish as well.

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Tyler Maher

TYLER MAHER

Tyler is a writer for Sports Illustrated's Inside the Phillies. He grew up in Massachusetts and is a huge Boston sports fan, especially the Red Sox. He went to Tufts University and played club baseball for the Jumbos. Since graduating, he has worked for MLB.com, The Game Day, FanDuel and Forbes. When he's not writing about baseball, he enjoys running, traveling, and playing fetch with his golden retriever.