It's Time to Clean House if Philadelphia Phillies Lose NLDS to New York Mets

The Philadelphia Phillies won 95 games in the regular season, but should have won more.

Rafael Suanes-Imagn Images

The Philadelphia Phillies finished the 2024 season with 95 wins, good enough for the second-best record in MLB, their first National League East title since 2011, and their most wins since that same year which saw them win 102 games.

They now sit one game away from elimination in the National League Division Series against the New York Mets.

It has been a poor showing across the board for the Phillies, with the bullpen failing to keep the Mets in check, the offense having a weak approach throughout the series (specifically in Game Three), and manager Rob Thomson making questionable moves with the starting lineup and in games.

The bullpen was the weakest facet of Philadelphia's game this year, with no real improvements to speak of at the 2024 MLB Trade Deadline.

Yes, the team brought in Carlos Estevez and Tanner Banks, but Estevez has proven to only be useful as the closer on a non-contending team like the Los Angeles Angels, and Banks has only been useful as an innings-eater in games that were out of reach in either direction.

The offense having a poor approach has been an issue for quite some time now, with the team failing to do anything to alleviate it other than spout the normal rhetoric of, "Oh we'll get 'em next time," or, "We just have to hit better."

It all starts at the top.

Rob Thomson has been a key issue for the team for quite some time now, and it has been proven time and time again throughout the season.

Thomson has made questionable managerial decisions throughout his tenure with the Phillies, with glaring ones being bringing Craig Kimbrel in on back-to-back nights after Kimbrel blew the first of those two games.

Thomson goes to the well far too often, and sticks with guys much longer than he has any reason to.

In last night's contest, Aaron Nola was spectacular through four innings, outside of two solo home runs, with one of those being more good hitting from Pete Alonso than a bad pitch from Nola.

The fifth inning saw Nola become less effective and should have been his last in a pivotal road game in the postseason, with a loss meaning a 2-1 deficit in a five-game series.

Nola was not lifted after the fifth inning, loading the bases in the sixth before being lifted for Orion Kerkering without recording an out.

Kerkering did the best that he could in the situation that he was put in, but still allowed two runs to score, pushing New York's lead to 4 and making the game unreachable.

In Game One of this same series, Thomson turned to Jeff Hoffman as the first reliever out of the pen.

Hoffman was spectacular in the regular season but has been dealing with neck soreness lately, and it kept him from pitching in the intra-squad sim game last Wednesday.

Hoffman being the first pitcher out of the pen, with a 1-0 lead, after not pitching for over a week and dealing with neck soreness cost the Phillies the game.

Thomson questionably sat Alec Bohm for Game Two of this series, stating Edmundo Sosa was starting in place to give the team a jolt, just for Sosa to take two plate appearances and then be pinch-hit for with Bohm in a situation that did not call for a pinch hitter.

Thomson may have the best winning percentage of any manager in Philadelphia's history (.575), but with the roster that the team has had in that time, it should be much better than it is.

It has been a consistent pattern of managerial misguidance that has led this team to where it currently stands, one game away from being sent home in the National League Division Series by the divisional rival Mets.

If the Phillies lose the series, it is time to clean house, with Rob Thomson being the prevailing issue for this stacked roster.