Is it Time to Panic?: Cubs vs. Phillies Series Preview, April 13-15

The Phillies start the middle set of a 3-series home stand with a 7-8 record, welcoming a fellow 7-8 team, the Chicago Cubs, on Monday night.

The Phillies are coming off a frustrating series against the Arizona Diamondbacks, dropping 2 of 3 games. Both losses, the Phils struggled with hitting outside of one inning in each game, and the bullpen took a step back by losing the lead the Phillies had in both losses.

As the early games have gone on, concerns about the roster have started to build, particularly with some clear inconsistencies in the lineup and a rotation that’s taken time to settle in. Those issues have contributed to some poor results and sparked questions about the front office’s decision to run it back. That said, it’s still early enough for things to turn. If the lineup can find some rhythm and the rotation stabilizes, this is a team capable of playing much better baseball.

They’ll have an opportunity to start doing that, though a tall task, against a Cubs team with World Series expectations of its own.

Northside Offseason

The Cubs are in a win-now mode, just like the Phillies are, but unlike the Phillies, they spent a lot more on outside talent during the offseason. Chicago bolstered the pitching staff in multiple ways: building the bullpen by signing relievers Phil Maton, Hunter Harvey, Caleb Thielbar, Hoby Milner, Shelby Miller, Jacob Webb, and trading for former Orioles and Rays reliever Andrew Kittredge. Japanese lefty Shota Imanaga picked up his qualifying offer for the rotation, who the Phils will face in the series finale on Wednesday, and made a trade adding Miami Marlins starter Edward Cabrera. The arms cost them immediately $59.2 million, not even including the options and buy outs and future AAVs for these arms, as well as the value of top prospect Owen Caisie, who was the biggest piece given up in the Cabrera trade.

Clearly, they were looking to bolster their arms, but that didn’t stop them from buying for the lineup also. The clear and obvious big-time move made for the offense was bringing in third baseman Alex Bregman on a 5-year, $175 million contract. Bregman replaced former Astros teammate Kyle Tucker as the big name on the Northside. They did not stop there, making a flurry of Minor League moves to add to the lineup’s depth, including former New York Met outfielder Michael Conforto and former Phillie Scott Kingery.

Offense Is Flatlining

The biggest issue this Phillies team has had so far is the inept performances of the lineup. Easily the most expensive part of this team, and they continue to perform horrifically against lefties, nonexistent with runners-in-scoring-position. And in each of the 3 games against the D-Backs, the offense could only score in 1 inning.

The Phillies are coming into a series with a growing need to get hot. While the top-3 hitters in the lineup are not as bad as they were during the last home stand, they are still far too inconsistent to guide them to victory. The lineup outside those three, especially Alec Bohm and Bryson Stott, is not performing in the slightest. Outside of Justin Crawford, maybe Brandon Marsh and Adolis Garcia at points, the offense after Bryce Harper is totally lost at the plate. It has now gotten to a point where there is zero confidence when you see the top 3 come up to the plate, and minus, at times, the 3 other hitters I named in the previous sentence, it’s become almost assumed that the hitter coming up to the plate is going to be an out.

While there are other issues the Phillies have right now, the only way they can rebound and return to legitimate World Series contention this season is by the lineup actually performing, and doing so consistently, instead of a few series or games here and there.

READ MORE ON THE OFFENSE:

Phillies’ One-Inning Offense Epitomizes Early-Season Struggles

Game Times and Broadcasts

Monday, April 13, 6:40 PM ET, NBC Sports Philadelphia+, FS1, 94.1 WIP

Tuesday, April 14, 6:40 PM ET, NBC Sports Philadelphia+, TBS, 94.1 WIP

Wednesday, April 15, 6:40 PM ET, NBC Sports Philadelphia, 94.1 WIP

Pitching Matchups

Game 1: Cristopher Sanchez (LHP, 1-1, 1.65 ERA) vs. Javier Assad (RHP, 1-0, 0.00 ERA)

Game 2: Aaron Nola (RHP, 1-1, 3.63 ERA) vs. Colin Rea (RHP, 1-0, 3.18 ERA)

Game 3: Jesus Luzardo (LHP, 1-2, 6.23 ERA) vs. Shota Imanaga (LHP, 0-1, 2.81 ERA)

The Numbers

• Run Differential
• Phillies: -16
• Cubs: +10

• Runs Scored Per Game:
• Phillies: 3.53
• Cubs: 4.40

• Runs Allowed Per Game:
• Phillies: 4.60
• Cubs: 3.73

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