What's the Best Playoff Lineup Philadelphia Phillies Can Deploy In NLDS?

The Philadelphia Phillies have one of the deeper lineups out of all the playoff teams, but how should they deploy it?

James A. Pittman-Imagn Images

The Philadelphia Phillies approach the 2024 playoffs with one of the deeper lineups of all postseason teams.

It has been a major part of their success this season, and they enter play Saturday with a combined .752 OPS, ranking fourth in MLB.

How Manager Rob Thomson has deployed the lineup, however, may not be the optimal construction.

With every run counting that much more in October, how should the Phillies set their lineup for postseason play?

1. DH Kyle Schwarber

Kyle Schwarber leading off is the best way to maximize his skills.

He leads the team in walk-rate at 15.2 percent, which also places him third in MLB.

That is the guy that you want at the top of your lineup; the guy that can work counts, getting on base more often than most, and hits for an immense amount of power at the same time.

Schwarber set the Major League record for lead-off home runs this season, and has a total of 38 with two games left to play.

Schwarber at the top of the lineup sets the table nicely for the rest of the potent offense to do more damage.

2. 1B Bryce Harper

Optimal lineup construction sees your best all-around hitter batting second, behind the guy that gets on base the most.

Bryce Harper, hands down, is Philadelphia's best all-around hitter.

Entering play Saturday with a .286/.374/.527 line on the year with 72 extra-base hits, 87 RBI, and a 150 OPS+, Harper will once again finish in the top 10 for National League MVP voting, an award that he has won twice so far.

Harper brings power and contact to the lineup, and would see more plate appearances batting one spot higher in the lineup than he has in the regular season.

3. 3B Alec Bohm

If you're still with me, perfect.

Alec Bohm has been the best contact and gap-to-gap hitter on the club this season with 44 doubles and two triples.

He has struck out only 85 times for a strikeout rate of 14.2 percent, a career-high and well below league average.

Having Bohm bat behing Schwarber and Harper, assuming Harper does not drive Schwarber in, gives the young third baseman the opportunity to drive in multiple runners, something that he has excelled at this year with 95 RBI.

Bohm has grown into the quintessential hitter needed for the third spot in a lineup, now he just needs to be put there.

4. RF Nick Castellanos

Don't worry, Trea Turner stans, he's coming.

Nick Castellanos is the best power hitter remaining with Schwarber and Harper already firmly entrenched in the first and second spots.

He ranks third on the Phillies in ISO at .174, as well as third in home runs with 23.

Even in the new age of baseball with analytics and statistical proof for the perfect lineup construction, the fourth spot still calls for power, and Castellanos is the best remaining option in that department.

5. 2B Bryson Stott

After the fourth spot in the lineup, you start over and do it again.

The player remaining with the best walk rate is second baseman Bryson Stott at 9.4 percent.

While he does a good job of getting on base, he is another member of Philadelphia's roster with less than 100 strikeouts this year, coming in with 92.

Stott is one of the better players in the sport at putting the bat on the ball, and it is very rare to see the lefty swing and miss.

Stott will get on base via walk, or put the ball in play at the very least, setting up the rest of the lineup nicely.

6. SS Trea Turner

Having a lineup so deep that Trea Turner batting sixth should be the norm is a fantastic luxury.

Batting Turner second in the lineup this season has hurt the team more than it has helped it, and his skillset is much better suited in the sixth spot in the lineup.

Turner is fast, but his speed has begun to diminish in his 30s.

He has still put together a solid season with a .294/.337/.465 line with 45 extra-base hits, 60 RBI, and a 123 OPS+.

Batting Turner sixth would go a long way to getting this team more wins.

7. C J.T. Realmuto

One of the few players in the every day lineup that has hit in his optimal position in the lineup, the Best Catcher in Baseball, J.T. Realmuto.

In an optimal lineup, seventh works just like third, but a little worse.

Realmuto has the gap-to-gap ability on a lesser scale than Bohm, making him the perfect choice to bat here.

Entering play Saturday with 18 doubles and one triple in only 98 games, Realmuto would be much closer to 30 doubles if he did not have mid-season knee surgery.

8. LF Brandon Marsh

"Wait, left field?" Yep.

An every day lineup is one that faces right handed pitchers on a day-to-day basis.

As much as Thomson wants to force Austin Hays into an every day role, he is not made for it.

Brandon Marsh, however, is.

Marsh enters play Saturday with a .252/.333/.425 line on the season with 16 home runs, 60 RBI, and a 111 OPS+.

He has sacrificed batting average for more power, but in 2024, batting average is not important.

He ranks fourth on the team in ISO, just behind Castellanos, with .172, making him the perfect second cleanup hitter.

9. CF Johan Rojas

Here's the thing: Johan Rojas is the worst hitter on the team, by a lot.

But what Rojas does bring to the table is elite speed and one of the best gloves in center field in all of baseball.

Those two things more than make up for what he lacks at the plate, making any production he does add icing on the cake.

With his speed, he is capable of beating out weak groundballs for infield hits more than most, putting him in the "second leadoff hitter" class.

The Phillies have been one of the best teams in baseball this year, but if they constructed their lineup better, 100 wins would have been an easy feat.

Doing so in the playoffs would go a long way to increasing their World Series chances.