Is there an easier team in baseball to analyze than the Phillies? Their hitting is historically great (they haven't scored this many runs per game since 1930); their pitching is historically awful (they've let up this many runs per game only a few times since 1939). What more is there to say?
All we really can do is demonstrate these principles in various ways, so here's another two for you.
First, as you could guess, the team is horrible when they don't score many runs. How bad? They have the second worst winning percentage for games in which they've scored 3 runs or fewer, winning only 4 times out of 42 games. Here's the chart of all teams:
Team | G | W | L | % |
SDN | 68 | 23 | 45 | 0.338 |
ANA | 55 | 15 | 40 | 0.273 |
ARI | 67 | 18 | 49 | 0.269 |
TOR | 67 | 18 | 49 | 0.269 |
NYN | 60 | 16 | 44 | 0.267 |
BOS | 52 | 13 | 39 | 0.250 |
CHN | 57 | 13 | 44 | 0.228 |
MIL | 54 | 12 | 42 | 0.222 |
BAL | 55 | 12 | 43 | 0.218 |
SEA | 61 | 13 | 48 | 0.213 |
CLE | 52 | 11 | 41 | 0.212 |
DET | 53 | 11 | 42 | 0.208 |
MIN | 70 | 14 | 56 | 0.200 |
OAK | 68 | 13 | 55 | 0.191 |
LAN | 54 | 10 | 44 | 0.185 |
HOU | 71 | 13 | 58 | 0.183 |
SFN | 67 | 12 | 55 | 0.179 |
PIT | 63 | 11 | 52 | 0.175 |
WAS | 75 | 12 | 63 | 0.160 |
CIN | 52 | 8 | 44 | 0.154 |
CHA | 66 | 10 | 56 | 0.152 |
KCA | 63 | 9 | 54 | 0.143 |
ATL | 57 | 8 | 49 | 0.140 |
SLN | 73 | 10 | 63 | 0.137 |
COL | 52 | 7 | 45 | 0.135 |
TEX | 55 | 7 | 48 | 0.127 |
TBA | 52 | 6 | 46 | 0.115 |
NYA | 39 | 4 | 35 | 0.103 |
PHI | 42 | 4 | 38 | 0.095 |
FLO | 55 | 3 | 52 | 0.055 |
On the flip side, they have the most wins in the NL (third most in the majors) when the team scores 7 runs or more. Their winning percentage is also excellent - third behind Arizona (perfect) and San Diego. The good and slightly surprising news here is that, as bad as the bullpen is, when the team scores 7 or more runs, the pitching has held the lead for the team in all but two games.
TEAM | G | W | L | % |
NYA | 61 | 56 | 5 | 0.918 |
BOS | 54 | 51 | 3 | 0.944 |
PHI | 46 | 44 | 2 | 0.957 |
ANA | 48 | 43 | 5 | 0.896 |
TEX | 46 | 41 | 5 | 0.891 |
DET | 48 | 41 | 7 | 0.854 |
ATL | 46 | 40 | 6 | 0.870 |
SEA | 45 | 39 | 6 | 0.867 |
CLE | 45 | 39 | 6 | 0.867 |
COL | 42 | 36 | 6 | 0.857 |
SLN | 40 | 35 | 5 | 0.875 |
ARI | 34 | 34 | 0 | 1.000 |
SDN | 35 | 34 | 1 | 0.971 |
CIN | 42 | 33 | 9 | 0.786 |
MIN | 37 | 32 | 5 | 0.865 |
FLO | 37 | 32 | 5 | 0.865 |
NYN | 39 | 32 | 7 | 0.821 |
MIL | 33 | 31 | 2 | 0.939 |
TOR | 35 | 31 | 4 | 0.886 |
PIT | 38 | 31 | 7 | 0.816 |
LAN | 31 | 29 | 2 | 0.935 |
HOU | 32 | 29 | 3 | 0.906 |
CHN | 32 | 28 | 4 | 0.875 |
TBA | 38 | 28 | 10 | 0.737 |
KCA | 32 | 27 | 5 | 0.844 |
OAK | 29 | 25 | 4 | 0.862 |
BAL | 33 | 25 | 8 | 0.758 |
WAS | 28 | 24 | 4 | 0.857 |
SFN | 28 | 22 | 6 | 0.786 |
CHA | 25 | 21 | 4 | 0.840 |
It's a pretty easy formula for this team: score lots of runs and win; don't score lots of runs and lose.