{"id":2689,"date":"2024-10-30T17:21:06","date_gmt":"2024-10-30T17:21:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=2689"},"modified":"2024-10-30T17:21:06","modified_gmt":"2024-10-30T17:21:06","slug":"brad-lidge-on-current-phillies-handling-postseason-you-do-need-to-change-the-formula-a-little-bit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=2689","title":{"rendered":"Brad Lidge on current Phillies, handling postseason: \u2018You do need to change the formula a little bit\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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When Brad Lidge and his former Philadelphia teammates see a talented team like the 2024 Phillies get knocked out of the postseason, they cherish their 2008 World Series championship just a bit more. Great regular-season clubs constantly get assembled with no promise of more in October. Winning that title is what separates a team above all else.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe realize, as the years go by, it\u2019s tricky to be able to make a run like that, to be able to actually win a World Series,\u201d Lidge said. \u201cIt\u2019s a difficult thing. We\u2019re always reminded of that. I think it\u2019s even more tricky, frankly, in this Wild Card era. It\u2019s even more difficult to kind of capture that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lidge spoke with Phillies Nation<\/em> via Zoom on Tuesday after releasing his new set of \u201cLights Out\u201d baseball cards, a new collaboration with artist Jordan Spector that launched on the 16th anniversary of the night he closed out Game 5 to clinch the second World Series victory in Phillies franchise history. He went 48 for 48 in save opportunities in the regular season and postseason in his first year in Philadelphia. Neither Lidge nor the Phillies replicated the same success following that season.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s come to further appreciate that World Series run, the \u201cpeak of the mountain\u201d in his career, as he\u2019s continued to watch great clubs fail to win it all as the years have gone by.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have even more pride in what we accomplished in 2008,\u201d Lidge said, \u201cbecause I know how hard it is. But it is very tricky nowadays to build that stacked team and actually run it all the way through.\u201d<\/p>\n

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While Lidge was there in 2008, he was also a part of the Phillies teams with sky-high expectations in 2009, 2010 and 2011 that couldn\u2019t win another World Series. He saw some similarities between those groups and the 2024 Phillies, who won the National League East but lost to the Mets in the NL Division Series. Philadelphia cruised to the division championship this season, earned a first-round postseason bye then fell flat to a surging New York club. Lidge feels that teams like this year\u2019s Phillies must be willing to shake things up a bit in this recently expanded playoff format.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really, really tough to be at the top of the mountain all year,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd then when the playoffs come, you\u2019re constantly toggling: Do you change anything? No, because you\u2019ve been the best team in baseball or one of the best teams in baseball, but then it\u2019s the playoffs, so sometimes you do need to tweak things or change things a little bit. What ends up happening, especially now when you\u2019re playing these super hot Wild Card teams that come in, is you do need to change the formula a little bit. But it\u2019s really tough to know how and when to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s difficult to be one of the best teams from start to finish, and it certainly doesn\u2019t guarantee anything in the postseason to do so. Sure, the Dodgers and Yankees were the top teams in each league this season, but this is the first time since the postseason expanded to three Wild Card teams per league to not feature one in the World Series. The Phillies made it in a surprise 2022 run, then both the Diamondbacks and the Rangers were Wild Card teams as Texas won last year\u2019s World Series.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s still an importance to winning the division and playing well in the regular season, but it\u2019s probably more crucial for a team to simply hit its stride at the right time. Just ask the 2008 Phillies, who surged past the Mets late in the season to win the NL East for the second year in a row on their way to immortality. Lidge thinks a similar scenario could help Philadelphia in 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cPart of me thinks maybe next year the Phillies need to not be winning the division until the very end of September and then take off,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd maybe that\u2019s the missing recipe or something, but it\u2019s really hard to put a finger on it. I do know the Phillies still have a great team. I know the window is still open for them right now, and that\u2019s great news if you\u2019re a fan, that the next couple years should be great ones too.\u201d<\/p>\n

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