I think there are five specific Phillies players that must have great starts to the season for the team to be as successful as us fans need them to be. They are pitchers Aaron Nola, Andrew Painter and Christopher Sanchez, and position players Adolis Garcia and Bryce Harper.
Aaron Nola has to bounce back from a disappointing season last year to live up to his past performance. Andrew Painter has been the most hyped Phillies pitching prospect since Cole Hamels in the early 2000s. He is about two years out from Tommy John surgery on his elbow. If Christopher Sanchez can pitch as well as he has for the last two years, he could finally win a Cy Young Award. The level of performance of these three guys is even more important because the Phillies don’t know how Zack Wheeler is going to come back from his scary blood clot surgery last season.
On the offensive side, Adolis Garcia and Bryce Harper are going to have to get off to a good start as well. Adolis was the Phillies’ only offensive free agent signing this off season. He’s going to have to pick up the slack for the departing Nick Castellanos, and also prove to everyone that he can still hit like he did in 2023 for the Texas Rangers. Bryce Harper has even more pressure on him than usual this year because of comments by Phillies General Manager Dave Dombroski right after the season ended. I don’t know why Dave didn’t talk to Bryce before the press conference about his thoughts. Bryce needs to prove that he can still be an elite hitter. If he or the team gets off to a slow start, there’s going to be a significant controversy for the media to talk about.
As you know, I have been following the Olympics daily. Norway is probably going to win the medal count for this year’s winter Olympics. The U.S. is in a tight race with the host country Italy for second place. I know my opinion isn’t going to be popular, but I think there are way too many obscure disciplines that are Olympic sports. It's impossible for people to follow this many events connected to snowboarding and skiing. Go USA!
And now to come back to local interests, I want to wish good luck to all the Cape winter sports athletes and teams as they head into state playoff events.
-
A 2002 Cape grad and 2007 UD grad, Lewes resident Sumner Spence is one of the Cape area's biggest sports fans. Although he’s used a wheelchair his entire life, he has lived vicariously through his sports-playing father, brother, and friends, who gave him his love of sports. He hopes to provide new and interesting perspectives on the sports stories and issues of the day. Email Sumner at sumspence@gmail.com.
