Cartoon: Will the Phillies have a winning season?

I’ve been drawing and writing a lot about hope lately. It seems to be more important than ever after living with a pandemic for over a year. And our Phillies’ new season is filled with great hope, joyous anticipation, and a high-powered offense. With experienced hitters such as Bryce Harper, J.T. Realmuto, Didi Gregorious, along with rising star Alec Bohm and a healthy Rhys Hoskins, this lineup should produce its share of runs.

As it usually does in baseball, it will come down to pitching. Aaron Nola, Zack Wheeler and Zach Eflin are solid starters. The jury is still out on offseason acquisitions Matt Moore and Chase Anderson. A revamped bullpen should benefit with the additions of Archie Bradley and José Alvarado. After last season’s historically poor performance, they have nowhere to go but up.

Adding two-time World Series winning executive Dave Dombrowski, who served as general manager or president of baseball operations with the Expos, Marlins, Tigers and Red Sox, is a significant upgrade. “We have a great manager in Joe Girardi, and want to build an organization that can win year in and year out,” Dombrowski told reporters.

The Phillies have not enjoyed a winning season since 2011, the last time they made the postseason. We can only hope this is finally the year.

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