As people were preparing for the 2018 Major League Baseball season, one team that most people did not consider to be much of a threat to make the playoffs for the Philadelphia Phillies. The Phillies were coming off a very poor season in which they were unable to gained much traction on both the offensive and defensive side of the game. Furthermore, during the offseason they seemed to focus a lot on trying to build for the future, even though they were able to sign some bigger name free agents at a discount.
At the start of the season, the Phillies continue to look like they would consider 2018 to be a rebuilding year. However, the team has recently gotten very hot and is suddenly looking like a team that could compete for a playoff spot by the end of the year (http://www.mcall.com/sports/baseball/phillies/mc-spt-game-3-box-phillies-philadelphia-san-francisco-giants-wednesday-20180509-story.html). The Phillies are currently coming off a very strong four-game sweep of the San Francisco Giants. During this series so far, the team has been able to put up over 10 runs twice and has looked extremely dominant.
At this point of the season, the Phillies are looking like they could do very well and compete in the very competitive NL East Division. Through the first 36 games of the season, the Phillies have a record of 21 wins and 15 losses and are just one half of a game behind the Atlanta Braves for first place in the NL East division. The Phillies have had a lot of help on the offensive side of the ball. The team has had a big surprise from Odubel Herrera who has continued to look very good and is among the league leaders in hitting.
While the Phillies have looked good compared to what most people would have expected, there is still a lot of work left to be done. Overall, the NL East Division is considered to be one of the best in all of baseball. While the Atlanta Braves are currently leading the division by a small margin, there are other teams in the division that are also looking extremely strong. For the past few seasons, the Washington Nationals have been one of the best teams in all of baseball. While this team has gotten off to a slow start so far this year, the amount of talent on the team is bound to lead them back to a strong finish.
