Astros vs Phillies World Series: What the Mariners can learn

What the Mariners can learn: Philadelphia Phillies 

The Phillies are like a walking home run derby in October, just crushing teams with the long ball. With a record of 7-2 in the playoffs, the Phillies swept the #3 seed and NL Central champions St. Louis Cardinals in the Wild Card round, ruining their ride off into the sunset dreams for Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina.

In the division series, they dominated the #2 seed from the NL East and defending world champion Atlanta Braves in 4 games. In the NLCS, they avoided the 111-win Dodgers, and instead took on the #5 seed San Diego Padres. While the games were close, the Phillies had a little bit more pitching, a dominant home crowd, and always seemed to have one more big hit in them than San Diego.

The Phillies being in the world series back in April wouldn’t have sounded crazy, but after a terrible start to the season, and the firing of manager Joe Girard, interim manager Rob Thomson did a fantastic job of fixing the culture and getting the bats going.

It wasn’t always perfect, but by the end of the season, Philadelphia caught and passed Milwaukee for the 6th and final spot in October. The journey may not have been what Dave Dombrowski, President of Baseball Operations, had envisioned when he took over the team in 2021, but the destination was the same nonetheless.

The Phillies have homegrown players that are going to be playing for a championship tonight. Guys like Aaron Nola, Rhys Hoskins, Alec Bohm, and Bryson Stott will all have their chances, but this team was built to win a championship because ownership and management went out and bought a championship-level team.

Since 2019, the Phillies have gone out and signed Zack Wheeler, J.T. Realmuto, Bryce Harper, Nick Castellanos, and Kyle Schwarber. They traded (with Seattle) for Jean Segura, Brandon Marsh, Kyle Gibson, and Noah Syndergaard. That’s 9 players that we will see in the world series, 7 starters, including the Phillies going out and buying an ace, and 4 all-star level hitters that have completely changed this ball club over the past few seasons.

That is $111,834,615 in free-agent acquisitions for Philadelphia’s top 5 players. That’s a lot of dough, but now the Phillies are 4 wins away from a world title for the first time in over a decade. I’d say it was worth it.

What the Mariners can learn: Houston Astros

What’s there to be said about our hated division rivals that hasn’t already been bemoaned about? They are the class of baseball (my fingers sting just typing that). Sorry to my family and friends that bleed Dodger blue, but there’s a difference between being great in August and being great in October.

While the Dodgers may have more division titles and overall wins, the Astros have proven time and time again that they show up and take care of business in October. In a sport that rewards sustained excellence only to harm their best in a small sample size playoff format, the Astros have overcome what great teams like the 111-win Dodgers, 107-win Giants in 2021, or the 102-win Cleveland team in 2017 failed to do.

The Astros have been to six straight American League Championship Series, going 4-2. Their two losses were in 2018 to one of the greatest teams ever assembled, the 108-win Boston Red Sox. The second was in the “2020 Covid Bowl” to the best team in the American League, Tampa Bay Rays. Every other time, they were the favorites, and they took care of business.

When it comes to the Fall Classic, that is the one that has gotten away from them. After a championship* in 2017, they have come up short to the underdog Nationals and Braves in 2019 & 2021. Both losses stung even more by the fact that they came after the cheating scandal, as well as being eliminated both times in their home ballpark.

This year’s edition has changed quite a bit since the birth of their dynasty in 2017, but it may be their best yet. The Astros are a complete team. They have the best rotation in all of baseball, a top-tier bullpen, and their lineup is littered with players that have OPS+ above 120. While they have a top 6 payroll in baseball, the scariest factor is that their three core pieces of the future, Yordan Alvarez, Kyle Tucker, and Jeremy Pena, are making a combined 2.2 million in salary this season.

There is no team that identifies or notices talent the way Houston does. Lose George Springer, Gherit Cole, Carlos Correa? No problem, we’ll win more pennants. When you are so good at building a great team with homegrown talent, it allows you to be aggressive and get the right players in trades and free agency. The Astros nailed trades for Verlander, Cole, and Montero.

While there are questions about how much longer Verlander and Altuve will produce, it does not seem to signal the end of their run like many of us thought when other stars left. The new age evil empire appears to be staying until someone in the American League can consistently challenge them (it’s not you New York).

Lessons for the Mariners

So what can the Mariners take away from these two incredible teams?

Give yourself a shot

The Astros are consistently in the playoffs and they have been successful more times than not in October. The Phillies had not been to the playoffs in over a decade. They get in as the last seed, and guess what, they get hot and find themselves in the world series.

The Seattle Mariners had a history of not giving themselves a shot at October. This year changed things and look at the success and memories that were experienced, and they only made the ALDS. Seattle, at the absolute minimum, needs to make the club better enough that they can reach October multiple years in a row under this young core. The expectation should be that the Mariners make the playoffs five years in a row. Anything short of that is a disappointment.

There’s no place like home

Yes, the Mariners lost at home in the ALDS, but they made a great…great team sweat it out for 18 innings. The Mariners need to get home-field advantage. This means winning the AL West. I expect the division will continue to have three bad teams, and the M’s and Stros to take advantage. Whoever wins the AL West, will likely have home-field advantage through the American League playoffs.

The rebuild never ends

The Mariners succeeded in their rebuild. They broke the curse and got back to playoff baseball. They identified a core of young stars in Julio Rodriguez, Ty France, Cal Raleigh, George Kirby, and Logan Gilbert.  What Jerry Dipoto and Justin Hollander absolutely have to keep as their main focus now, is that the rebuild is never over.

One eye needs to be on finishing this rebuild with a championship, the other eye needs to be looking at how they’re going to replace key players as they begin to decline or reach free agency. The Astros don’t overpay. They develop, they win, then they replace them with younger players that do the same job or better at a much cheaper price.

What’s their succession plan with Eugenio Suarez? Is the next player going to be better? What about Mitch Haniger? Replacing as Houston does will lead to a decade of success, not just a 3-year run.

When the difference maker is there, pull the trigger

The Phillies made a true financial commitment to winning. More than anybody not named the Dodgers, Philadelphia went out and bought themselves a chance at a championship. They went the extra years and dollars for Bryce Harper. The majority of the league should feel stupid after his MVP campaigns and a career-defining home run to send Philadelphia to the world series.

They spent big on Castellanos, and it has not been great, but they spent big on Zack Wheeler and Kyle Schwaber, and both put up elite numbers and are a huge reason they’re this close to a title.
Nobody is questioning them on Castellanos because they at least tried, they went for it. They didn’t have the homegrown talent Seattle appears to have.

The Astros don’t appear to have the financial flexibility that one would suggest Seattle should have. The Mariners are currently projected to have the 15th-highest payroll in baseball in 2023 and are about $65 million behind the Astros. If the Mariners as a franchise are truly committed to winning a championship and achieving sustained success, they need to add $65 million to their payroll at a minimum.

There’s no shortage of superstar talent available in this year’s free agent class, go fight for them, and go get some people. The biggest free agent in the history of baseball will be available a year from now. You came up just short in 2018 with Ohtani, don’t miss him this time. Go pay up and get your 2-4 difference makers, continue to develop and grow your homegrown talent, find the balance between what has brought Houston and Philadelphia to the precipice of glory, and become the next dynasty in baseball.

Oh yeah…Phillies in 7