Phils using time off wisely to stay sharp ahead of NLDS

PHILADELPHIA -- Trea Turner remembers the fall of 2019 well.

Of course he does. He won the World Series with the Nationals. The Nats won the NL Wild Card over Milwaukee, beat the Dodgers in the NLDS and swept the Cardinals in the NLCS. Seven days later, they played Game 1 of the World Series in Houston.

A layoff like that is supposed to ruin a hitter’s timing. It is supposed to cripple an offense. At least, that is what the Braves said following each of the past two Octobers, when the Phillies beat them in the 2022 and 2023 NLDS. But the Nats won the first two games of the World Series, eventually winning the first championship in franchise history in seven games.

There is a lesson there somewhere.

“I think it’s just an excuse if you want it to be,” Turner said about postseason layoffs. “It’s a good time to rest if you want it to be. It’s whatever you want it to be, really.”

The Phillies played their final game of the regular season on Sunday. Six days later, they will play Game 1 of the NLDS on Saturday at Citizens Bank Park.

“We’re going to be prepared,” Turner said. “It’s going to come down to who plays better baseball at the end of the day. I feel like the adrenaline of the postseason kind of locks you in and makes up for that five days off, you know? You’re not going to feel sluggish. You’re not going to feel like you haven’t played in a long time. I think that adrenaline makes up for that.”

The Phillies had Monday off, but they will return to work on Tuesday. Pitchers will throw, hitters will hit. Hitters can face pitchers if they want, or they can step into the batting cage against the high-velocity and Trajekt machines, which simulate the velocity and spin they will see this weekend and beyond.

“We’re going to do everything we can,” Bryson Stott said.

The Phils will play an intrasquad game on Wednesday. There will be four umpires, crowd noise, walkup music and more. Asked if they will play for more than just bragging rights, Phillies manager Rob Thomson said, “I’m thinking about that, because I think there should be a carrot out there.”

Maybe a cash prize to the winner?

“You know how much these guys make?” Thomson said, smiling. “I’m not sure how much money I can put out there.”

The Phillies will work out on Thursday and again on Friday. They hope it is enough. They think it will be if they work with a purpose, because the one thing the Phillies don’t want to do is have the layoff as a baked-in excuse should they struggle.

“Even though you’re not playing games, just be locked into the work that you are doing,” Nick Castellanos said. “Don’t be just so happy-go-lucky and think of these five days as a vacation. Remain focused.”

In MLB’s latest postseason format, eight teams have had first-round byes over the past two years. Those teams are a combined 3-5 in the Division Series. Two reached the Championship Series. One won the World Series: the 2022 Astros.

Teams with a first-round bye in 2022-23 averaged 3.63 runs per game in the postseason, compared to 3.88 runs per game of all postseason teams, though it is of course much more difficult to score in the postseason.

Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski is familiar with the pitfalls of long postseason layoffs. His Tigers had a six-day layoff between the 2006 ALCS and World Series, and a five-day layoff between the 2012 ALCS and World Series.

They lost both of them.

“I've had other clubs call me because when they've had it, they know I've been through it,” Dombrowski said. “There's things that we've researched ourselves. Probably the most difficult part for me, as a team, is keeping your bats going. That's a challenge. It's not that it can't be done, but it's the biggest challenge. And so [hitting coach] Kevin Long's been through this; he was at Washington actually. [Assistant hitting coach] Rafael Pena is with us and he was with Houston, and they hit. So a couple of the clubs have hit. But a lot of them haven't.

“We've had a lot of conversations about it. I don't think you can just sit back and think, 'Oh, everything's going to be fine if you just sit around for a week and don't do anything.' Now, we're not going to do that, but it's a challenge. I think it's on a case-by-case basis. Some guys will benefit more by [resting], but I do think that you have to put a focus on still keeping your intensity levels up.”

It shouldn’t be difficult for the Phillies to maintain their intensity because they remember the past two postseasons. They remember the Braves.

“I would think it'd be a very big reminder,” Dombrowski said.

Turner said the 2019 Nationals didn’t do anything special during their layoff before the World Series. They scrimmaged. They took BP. They tried to simulate high velocity.

“Just the technology and drills and all the things that we have, it should be good enough to keep us sharp,” Turner said. “It’s still going to come down to playing good baseball.”