Some statistical oddities to play for this weekend

We need some reasons to watch this weekend right? With the Phillies no longer in playoff contention, we can sit back and just enjoy this tea—

I can’t even finish that.

If you’re like me, you love a good statistical oddity. Those weird nuggets that pop up over a season’s worth of games that you never really thought about. Playing in Miami, if all things go right, the Phillies can reach some pretty strange milestones if they play their cards right.

• As of today, the Phillies have, as a team, hit 194 home runs. Kind of surprising. But if they are able to hit 6 more home runs and still have a team OPS under .745 (at .728 before Thursday’s games), it’ll be the first time in team history that they hit 200 home runs as a team, but still maintained an overall team OPS under .745, a pretty impressive feat. For reference, this has only happened 30 times in major league history, and four other teams are on track to do it this year as well. 2019 was the closest the Phillies came, hitting 215 home runs, but scraping by that .745 benchmark, logging a .746 OPS as a team. Is it a measure of an inability to get on base, or an inability to do anything but hit home runs? I’m not sure, but it’s interesting nonetheless.
• You know what they haven’t done much of this year? Hit triples. Usually counted on as one of the more exciting plays in the game, the Phillies have seen a dearth of them being hit by men in red pinstripes. They don’t exactly have a roster stocked with burners that can go from home to third with ease, but you have to think they’d have lucked into a few more during the season. Right now, they sit at 24 triples as a team. Not counting the shortened 2020 season, so long as no one hits a three-bagger the rest of the year, those 24 triples will be the first time since 2004 that they have recorded less than 25 triples as a team in an entire season. Whither Ben Revere?
• Speaking of plodding, I’m not sure that calling this team a “running” team is entirely appropriate. What we can call them in efficient when they try to steal bases, something we haven’t seen since the heyday of Davey Lopes as base coach. They have stolen only 76 bases this year as a team, but if they do not get caught stealing again this weekend, it’ll give them 19 times caught stealing on the year, tied for second fewest in team history (not counting the sixty game season in 2020).
• On the pitching side, it’s a little more difficult to find some milestones, but here’s a good one. Coming into Friday’s game, the pitching staff had walked exactly 500 batters and struck out 1,456. If they can manage to walk fewer than 525 batters total this season, it’ll mark only the second time in team history they have walked fewer than 525 batters and struck out more than 1,400. Yes, I know the strike outs are a sign of the times, but that’s pretty remarkable.

Sometimes, you have to have something to cheer for. We are left with this. Here’s to home run filled, triple-less weekend in Miami.