How the Phillies have embraced the chaos this postseason: ‘Let’s put pressure on people’

In the first inning of the Phillies’ win in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series on Saturday night, Kyle Schwarber reached first on a softly-hit infield single. He reached second on a Bryce Harper single to center field. Alec Bohm popped out in the next at-bat, bringing up Bryson Stott, with Harper and Schwarber on first and second and two outs.

Stott lined a single to right fielder Arizona Corbin Carroll, and third base coach Dusty Wathan started waving his arm to send Schwarber home. It was an aggressive send but a calculated one. Carroll’s arm value ranks in the first percentile of all MLB outfielders. His arm strength has decreased from 86.9 mph in 2022 to 83.3 mph in 2023, according to Baseball Savant.

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Schwarber isn’t the fastest on the base paths, but the risk paid off. Carroll’s throw was wide, and the Phillies DH crossed the plate standing up, giving his team an early 1-0 lead en route to a 6-1 Game 5 win.

A few minutes later, Harper stole home on a double steal. The two plays set a tone.

“From the start of the playoffs, sort of the message to everybody was let’s put pressure on people,” said manager Rob Thomson. “That doesn’t [just] mean the double steals. It also means getting down the line, putting pressure on people with ground balls. And Harp did it on the ground ball to second base. Putting pressure on the outfield, thinking about going first to third, good turns. Forcing them to maybe make some mistakes.”

Putting pressure on the opposing team has been a focus over the Phillies’ last two playoff runs, but they are better equipped to do it this season than they were last year. They have a faster, more athletic team in 2023. Trea Turner ranks in the 99th percentile of sprint speed in MLB and Johan Rojas ranks in the 96th percentile. That added athleticism has allowed them to be more disruptive.

This has been especially true in the NLCS. The Diamondbacks charged into this postseason with seven stolen bases and a motto of “Embrace the Chaos.” They ranked second in baseball in stolen bases in the regular season with 166.

But over the past few days, the Phillies have flipped the script. They have been the ones embracing chaos, while simultaneously limiting Arizona’s damage on the base paths.

“Coming into the game, coming into the series, we all know they’re fast, they’re speedy, and they like to take bases,” said starting pitcher Zack Wheeler. “So we all talked about it before the series. When a guy gets on, you have to be careful with him. You have to change up your looks. You have to change up your time to home. Maybe do something a little different here and there.”

The Phillies have stolen six bases in this NLCS so far and have held the Diamondbacks to just one. They lead all of baseball in stolen bases this postseason with 15. This isn’t by accident. Thomson said that the Phillies talk about applying pressure in hitters meetings, advance meetings, and even in the dugout during games.

“I think [first base coach] Paco Figueroa and [bench coach] Mike Calitri and our strategy group do a really good job of identifying areas to exploit, whether that’s base stealing or taking the extra base when possible,” said general manager Sam Fuld. “They’re just really good at picking the right times to run and what to look for from opposing pitchers.”

In the same way the Phillies like to be selectively aggressive at the plate, they try to be selectively aggressive with their decisions on the bases. Those decisions won’t always work out. But more times than not, the added pressure on an opponent outweighs the potential of running into an out.

“I think that when you are playing in these high-intensity games, pressure creates mistakes and the team that handles pressure the best usually wins,” Thomson said. “We emphasize it in every meeting and we point out the examples when pressure makes a difference.”