Matt Strahm and Jeff Hoffman prove they don’t need designated reliever roles to make the All-Star game

ARLINGTON, Texas — Last month, when Matt Strahm logged onto the app that players use to cast their All-Star votes, he was able to sort through pitchers by the traditional statistics: ERA, innings, strikeouts, saves.

But as he explored more, he noticed a new feature.

“This year,” Strahm said, “you could filter on WAR.”

And that’s how he suspects two Phillies non-closers made the All-Star team.

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It was quite a thing. There are three National League closers on good teams — Raisel Iglesias of the Atlanta Braves, Trevor Megill of the Milwaukee Brewers, and Evan Phillips of the Los Angeles Dodgers — who have at least 10 saves and a sub-3.00 ERA. None of them was at the All-Star Game.

But there were Strahm and Jeff Hoffman, with nine saves between them (all of which belong to Hoffman), doing wave after wave of interviews in the NL clubhouse before Tuesday night’s midsummer showcase.

“Games are won in the sixth and seventh innings, and a lot of guys are starting to realize that,” Strahm said. “I think that WAR button probably helped a lot.”

Maybe. But the proof was also in the performance.

Hoffman, 31, was a first-time All-Star with a 1.12 ERA, 52 strikeouts, and 10 walks in 40⅓ innings. Strahm, 32, got selected to his first All-Star Game with a 1.49 ERA, 47 strikeouts, and only five walks in 36⅓ innings.

You don’t need to know that they rank first and second among relievers in Fangraphs’ wins above replacement (WAR) — 2.5 for Hoffman, 2.3 for Strahm — to realize they are All-Star-worthy, which doesn’t mean that many players didn’t have their eyes opened by that metric.

“I know I did,” said Colorado Rockies third baseman Ryan McMahon, who played with Hoffman in Colorado and rates among his best friends in baseball. “I know a lot of guys on my team did. Because it used to just be guys who had the save numbers. Not saying they didn’t deserve it, but there were other guys who deserved to be here just as much. It’s cool to see.”

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It’s also a referendum on how the Phillies run their bullpen.

When Rob Thomson took over as manager in June 2022, he inherited a struggling bullpen. Rather than appointing a reliever to handle a ninth-inning lead (Corey Knebel began that season as the closer), Thomson decided to manage according to matchups.

José Alvarado got save chances in favorable matchups, often against left-handed hitters. Seranthony Domínguez and trade-deadline pickup David Robertson were the choices to face tough righties. By season’s end, 11 Phillies pitchers recorded at least one save. A converted starter (Zach Eflin) closed out the game that ended the Phillies’ decadelong playoff drought.

That’s the way it has been for much of the past three seasons, with only some of the names changing. All the age-old chatter about relievers needing to have defined roles in order to thrive? The Phillies have turned it all on its ear.

“It works for a few reasons,” Hoffman said. “One is the quality of stuff we all have down there. We have so many guys that could probably [close]. But I think our mentality probably has something to do with it. There’s an unselfishness to it. I’ve been in other clubhouses, and this one feels more so that everybody’s pulling in the same direction. I think that’s a big difference-maker.”

Rather than assigning a specific inning to each reliever, Thomson gives them an idea of what part of the opposing lineup they will face. When the phone rings, Hoffman and Strahm usually know when it’s for them.

But Thomson, like Girardi before him, also has strict rules about reliever usage. Until late in the season, he won’t use a reliever three days in a row. It helps, then, if multiple relievers are comfortable in the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings instead of a traditional setup man and closer.

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Hoffman, in particular, stepped into a high-leverage role last year, but only after leveraging an out clause in his minor-league contract with the Phillies, making him one of the unlikeliest All-Stars in Texas this week.

A former first-round pick of the Toronto Blue Jays, he got traded to the Rockies in a deadline blockbuster in 2015 for Troy Tulowitzki. He bounced around from Colorado to Cincinnati, from rotations to bullpens, and posted a 5.23 ERA.

The rest of the story is well known by now, although it isn’t any less remarkable. Hoffman wasn’t pitching well in triple A early last season, either, when the Phillies brought him to Citizens Bank Park to throw batting practice to Bryce Harper, who was recovering from Tommy John elbow surgery.

“We were talking about it yesterday, man, how he came up, threw live BP to Bryce, and Bryce was like, ‘Hey, this guy should be on the team,’” McMahon said. “Down the road, that’s going to be such a cool story for him to tell. Super proud of him. Lucky guy.”

Two winters ago, the Phillies signed Strahm to a two-year, $15 million free-agent contract that was panned by many rival teams as an overpay. Nobody is laughing now. Strahm has a 2.76 ERA in 95 games for the Phillies.

An avid baseball card collector, Strahm showed off an All-Star Game belt that was custom made out of his baseball cards with the Phillies. Special occasions call for special swag.

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“It’s an honor to be recognized without the saves like a traditional reliever in the All-Star Game has,” Strahm said. “It just speaks volumes of what we’re doing in Philly, and especially our bullpen and the selflessness that goes around there.”

If players around the league are taking notice, mangers surely are, too. And although it’s unlikely that the Phillies will start a trend of closer-by-matchups bullpens across baseball, it is a copycat league.

But it doesn’t just happen. Hoffman noted that a manager needs to have buy-in from his relievers.

“It’s going to come down to, you’ve got to have the right people in that set up,” Hoffman said. “It’s crazy how good we work together. I’m sure it’s not going to be the same everywhere. There’s going to be guys that just won’t have it, or whatever it is. I don’t know the specific reasons.

“But when something is successful in a place, then teams are obviously going to look into it. It’s like, ‘Oh, they’re doing it, so what are they doing different than everybody else?’”

Until then, electing two non-closers to the All-Star team is a good start.