As the great Ric Flair always says, “To be the Man, you gotta beat the Man.” The Dodgers are the champs, the preseason favorites, and rounding into form at just the right time. While they aren’t technically the final boss for the Phillies, they were always the one that would be in the way to winning our 3rd World Series. This matchup was inevitable.
These might be the two best teams in baseball despite finishing 2nd and 3rd in the NL. Unfortunately, they are playing in a 5 game Division Series. Here is the schedule:
Game 1: Sat., Oct. 4 at 6:38p – Cristopher Sanchez vs Shohei Ohtani (R)
Games 1, 2, and 5 – Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, PA
Game 2: Mon, Oct. 6 at 6:08p –
Game 3: Wed, Oct. 8 at 9:08p –
Game 4*: Thu, Oct. 9 at 6:08p –
Game 5*: Sat., Oct. 11 at 8:08p –
Games 3 and 4 – Dodger Stadium, Chavez Ravine, CA
For someone like me who loves the money and talent that comes with a series like this, it’s a dream to compare the two squads. Ownership of both is completely dedicated to winning and you can’t ask for more than that. Let’s compare the two rosters in terms of payroll. Here are the highest paid players in this series:
| Rank | Player | Team | AAV1 | Total |
| 1 | Shohei Ohtani | Dodgers | $70m | 10/$700m |
| 2 | Zack Wheeler | Phillies | $42m | 3/$126m |
| 3 | Blake Snell | Dodgers | $36.4m | 5/$182m |
| 4 | Mookie Betts | Dodgers | $30.4m | 12/$365m |
| 5 | Tyler Glasnow | Dodgers | $27.3m | 5/$136.5m |
| 6 | Trea Turner | Phillies | $27.2m | 11/$300m |
| 7 | Yoshinobu Yamamoto | Dodgers | $27.1m | 12/$325m |
| 8 | Freddie Freeman | Dodgers | $27m | 6/$162m |
| 9 | Bryce Harper | Phillies | $25.4m | 13/$330m |
| 10 | Aaron Nola | Phillies | $24.6m | 7/$172m |
| 11 | JT Realmuto | Phillies | $23.1m | 5/$115.5m |
| 12 | Teoscar Hernandez | Dodgers | $22m | 3/$66m |
| 13 | Nick Castellanos | Phillies | $20m | 5/$100m |
| 14 | Kyle Schwarber | Phillies | $19.75m | 4/$79m |
| 15 | Taijuan Walker | Phillies | $18m | 4/$72m |
| 15 | Tanner Scott | Dodgers | $18m | 4/$72m |
| 17 | Michael Conforto | Dodgers | $17m | 1/$17m |
How strange is that list? It’s a mix of stars, busts, injuries, and missing persons that somehow make up the two most talented rosters in baseball.
Missing Persons
Let’s start with the guys not on the list, the stars of this series who aren’t getting paid the biggest bucks to be on the brightest stage. It begins with Game 1 starter Cristopher Sanchez. Sanchez took the mantle of ace from Zack Wheeler and hasn’t looked back. The former Tampa Bay Ray was famously traded for Curtis Mead and, for a few years, it looked like we lost the trade. Then Sanchez slowed things down, started throwing his changeup for strikes, gained back the velocity he had traded for control, and is looking at a runner-up Cy Young finish this season.2 He signed an extension last year for the steal of 4/$22.5m (with 2 club options for another $29m). Despite the low cost, he might be the best pitcher in this series.
In fact, the Phillies entire starting staff for this series might be outside the highest paid. Ranger Suarez is going to sign a big deal this offseason, but he and Jesus Luzardo have yet to hit free agency. The Phillies thought they were lining up the mega contracts of Wheeler and Nola to start any playoff series, but that didn’t work out (for completely different reasons). The Phillies lefty trio has the heroic honor of keeping the Dodgers and their 3-headed MVP monster in check. It will not be easy.
As for the Dodgers, Andy Pages, Dalton Rushing, and Roki Sasaki are all going to play huge parts in this series despite not making any money. In just his second season, Pages broke out to a 3.8 WAR and will be expected to do damage against the Phillies lefties. Rushing was called into action when MVP candidate catcher Will Smith broke his hand. Then there’s Sasaki who was bad to start the year, missed 4 months, then has come back as the white knight for the Dodgers bullpen in the playoffs. Instead of waiting the extra year to come from Japan and get a massive $300m+ payday, Sasaki wanted to get his MLB career started and signed an entry level deal with the Dodgers. Now, with under 40 big league innings in his career, he will be expected to be the Dodgers closer.
For both these teams with top heavy lineups, it will be the play of the other guys that will define the series. Brandon Marsh, Alec Bohm, Bryson Stott, and Harrison Bader are the ones the Phillies need to churn through the Dodgers pitchers. For LA, Kike Hernandez, Tommy Edman, and (evil) Miguel Rojas will all have rolls to play against the Phillies lefties.
Injuries
[UPDATE: Will Smith is starting game 3]
Two of the game’s biggest stars will be noticeably absent. Zack Wheeler is out for the season with a blood clot while Will Smith is out with a broken hand. Wheeler was firmly in the Cy Young conversation when he went down, cruising to a strikeout title. Smith was slashing .325/.424/.545 at the start of August, then his production went in the tank before finally being diagnosed with his injury. The MVP race was Ohtani, Schwarber, and Smith, that’s how good he was playing. Both are huge blows to their team.
Busts
A LOT of money was sent in constructing these rosters, but that doesn’t mean all the money was spent well. Between Aaron Nola, Nick Castellanos, Taijuan Walker, Max Kepler, and Jordan Romano, the Phillies are paying full time salaries of $81.1m to guys who are either part time or won’t play at all. The Dodgers are just as bad. Tyler Glasnow was paid to be a front line starter, but will probably end up coming out of the bullpen. Throw in Tanner Scott, Kirby Yates, Blake Treinen, and Michael Conforto and that is $86.3m of ineffectiveness on the books in LA.
Stars
Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Clayton Kershaw, and Bryce Harper all have MVP trophies. Blake Snell has 2 Cy Young awards while Kershaw has 3. Kyle Schwarber and Cristopher Sanchez will probably finish runner up for their respective awards this year. Trea Turner just won the batting title. Schwarber won the HR and RBI title, but Shohei has a few of those himself. In terms of sheer star wattage, these are the two brightest rosters in baseball. As much as the bottom of the lineup might be what wins the series, we will all be holding our breath with every pitch to these guys.
Ohtani is the best individual talent the game has ever seen. Kyle Schwarber has a knack for giving the Phillies the spark they need just when they need it to calm things down. Both Freeman and Harper pick their games up in the playoffs. Turner and Betts get on base and completely mess things up for opposing pitchers.
Wildcards
With all of the above being about as equal as possible, things may come down to the two most enigmatic players on each team: Nick Castellanos and Teoscar Hernandez. After underachieving seasons for both, we all know they usually come to play in the playoffs. Hernandez has already started, hitting 2 HRs in the series against the Reds. If he stays hot, the Phillies are in trouble. As for Castellanos, what started as solid consistency, devolved into near unplayability by the end of this year. The playoffs though… Nick and Harper were the only two to show up for the Phillies against the Mets last year and he basically single handedly dispatched with the Braves the year before. Good luck figuring either guy out. Unfortunately, our fate may be in their hands.
We need Matt Stairs and Shane Victorino throwing out first pitches in the first two games. Phillies in 4! Hopefully I live that long.
- None of that deferred money bullshit here ↩︎
- Mead plays for the White Sox now and has a -.2 WAR for his career ↩︎
Philly Front Office 
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