“Phillies Make Strategic Use of Time Off as Playoffs Approach” | Sports

PHILADELPHIA — Trea Turner remembers the autumn of 2019 nicely.

Of course he does. He received the World Series with the Nationals. The Nats received the NL Wild Card over Milwaukee, beat the Dodgers within the NLDS and swept the Cardinals within the NLCS. Seven days later, they performed Game 1 of the World Series in Houston.

A layoff like that's purported to break a hitter’s timing. It is meant to cripple an offense. At least, that's what the Braves mentioned following every of the previous two Octobers, when the Phillies beat them within the 2022 and 2023 NLDS. But the Nats received the primary two video games of the World Series, ultimately successful the primary championship in franchise historical past in seven video games.

There is a lesson there someplace.

“I think it’s just an excuse if you want it to be,” Turner mentioned about postseason layoffs. “It’s a good time to rest if you want it to be. It’s whatever you want it to be, really.”

The Phillies performed their ultimate recreation of the common season on Sunday. Six days later, they'll play Game 1 of the NLDS on Saturday at Citizens Bank Park.

“We’re going to be prepared,” Turner mentioned. “It’s going to come down to who plays better baseball at the end of the day. I feel like the adrenaline of the postseason kind of locks you in and makes up for that five days off, you know? You’re not going to feel sluggish. You’re not going to feel like you haven’t played in a long time. I think that adrenaline makes up for that.”

The Phillies had Monday off, however they'll return to work on Tuesday. Pitchers will throw, hitters will hit. Hitters can face pitchers if they need, or they will step into the batting cage in opposition to the high-velocity and Trajekt machines, which simulate the speed and spin they'll see this weekend and past.

“We’re going to do everything we can,” Bryson Stott mentioned.

The Phils will play an intrasquad recreation on Wednesday. There might be 4 umpires, crowd noise, walkup music and extra. Asked if they'll play for extra than simply bragging rights, Phillies supervisor Rob Thomson mentioned, “I’m thinking about that, because I think there should be a carrot out there.”

Maybe a money prize to the winner?

“You know how much these guys make?” Thomson mentioned, smiling. “I’m not sure how much money I can put out there.”

The Phillies will work out on Thursday and once more on Friday. They hope it's sufficient. They assume it is going to be in the event that they work with a function, as a result of the one factor the Phillies don’t need to do is have the layoff as a baked-in excuse ought to they wrestle.

“Even though you’re not playing games, just be locked into the work that you are doing,” Nick Castellanos mentioned. “Don’t be just so happy-go-lucky and think of these five days as a vacation. Remain focused.”

In MLB’s newest postseason format, eight groups have had first-round byes over the previous two years. Those groups are a mixed 3-5 within the Division Series. Two reached the Championship Series. One received the World Series: the 2022 Astros.

Teams with a first-round bye in 2022-23 averaged 3.63 runs per recreation within the postseason, in comparison with 3.88 runs per recreation of all postseason groups, although it's of course rather more tough to attain within the postseason.

Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski is aware of the pitfalls of lengthy postseason layoffs. His Tigers had a six-day layoff between the 2006 ALCS and World Series, and a five-day layoff between the 2012 ALCS and World Series.

“I've had other clubs call me because when they've had it, they know I've been through it,” Dombrowski mentioned. “There's issues that we have researched ourselves. Probably probably the most tough half for me, as a staff, is protecting your bats going. That's a problem. It's not that it could possibly't be achieved, nevertheless it's the most important problem. And so [hitting coach] Kevin Long's been by this; he was at Washington really. [Assistant hitting coach] Rafael Pena is with us and he was with Houston, and so they hit. So a pair of the golf equipment have hit. But loads of them have not.

“We've had a lot of conversations about it. I don't think you can just sit back and think, ‘Oh, everything's going to be fine if you just sit around for a week and don't do anything.' Now, we're not going to do that, but it's a challenge. I think it's on a case-by-case basis. Some guys will benefit more by [resting], but I do think that you have to put a focus on still keeping your intensity levels up.”

It shouldn’t be tough for the Phillies to keep up their depth as a result of they bear in mind the previous two postseasons. They bear in mind the Braves.

“I would think it'd be a very big reminder,” Dombrowski mentioned.

Turner mentioned the 2019 Nationals didn’t do something particular throughout their layoff earlier than the World Series. They scrimmaged. They took BP. They tried to simulate excessive velocity.

“Just the technology and drills and all the things that we have, it should be good enough to keep us sharp,” Turner mentioned. “It’s still going to come down to playing good baseball.”