Philly Sports Rundown I
Mike Leitao ~ 12/23/24
Philadelphia sports had a rough week to say the least. The three major league teams currently in action (Eagles, 76ers, & Flyers) combined for an impressive 3-4 record over the past week, and the injury bug marched on through Philly injuring multiple star players this week. For the Phillies, they are in the midst of their offseason after a disappointing season as they attempt to figure out what to do next to capitalize on the strong team they currently roster.
Phillies:
The Phillies are currently in the best shape out of all the major sports in Philadelphia, since they did not play this past week they are the only ones who did not lose. In all seriousness, there has not been much around the Phillies of late until just this weekend. The Phillies made an inter division trade with the Marlins, acquiring pitcher Jesus Luzardo in exchange for prospects Starlyn Caba and Emaarion Boyd. From the Phillies standpoint, this is a solid trade. Yes, giving up young prospects will always carry risk for both sides. There is a chance the Phillies just gave up 2 future Hall of Famers but there is also a chance the Phillies just gave up two players who will never see MLB time in their careers. It is super important that the Phillies go all in for the 2025 season though, as they have an aging core and some key pieces who will be free agents the following season. Luzardo had a very good 2023 season looking like a top of the rotation pitcher, but injuries in 2024 halted that momentum.
The Phillies starting pitching has not been achilles heel over the past couple playoff runs, but being able to add another very good starter to an already strong bullpen is a great move for the Phils. Losing Starlyn Caba, their number 4 prospect and 81st overall, does sting, but unless he either turns out to be a truly special player and Luzardo does not return close to his 2023 form, this trade will most likely be viewed as a win for the Phils. The only other truly notable thing is reports on the potential of trading Alec Bohm, the young 3rd baseman. With Bohm currently projected to sign a massive contract once he is a free agent in 2027, there are reports that the Phillies would rather sell high on the youngster after a monster 2024 season. However, with the Phillies just acquiring a starting pitcher, it is hard to imagine them trading Bohm unless they saw something truly special come up that Bohm needed to be included in to get it done. In all likelihood, Bohm will be wearing the red and white come the start of the next season.
76ers:
There has not been much to be happy about as a 76ers fan this year. Although they have played better since Thanksgiving and are still right in the thick of the playoff hunt thanks to the NBA’s play in system, the team has not done much to inspire confidence between all the injuries and the poor play on the court. The one bright spot this year for the 76ers has been Jared McCain, the unique rookie known for his Tik Toks and painted nails has been ballin out for the 76ers and seemed like the clear favorite to win Rookie of the Year. However, on Friday he proved that we can’t have nice things. In the game, he left midway through the 3rd quarter to be checked for a concussion, luckily though, he was cleared and returned later to finish the game. It turns out, that was not really a good thing, as he had an unknown knee issue that would become a major issue after the game. The rookie underwent an MRI on Saturday and it confirmed the star had suffered a meniscus tear and was out indefinitely. The injury guarantees he cannot win Rookie of the Year, putting an end to the possibility of 3 different Philadelphia players winning that honor in the same year, and it also draws an uglier picture for a 76ers team that was starting to find its groove.
Right now, the 76ers feel like a team in limbo. With stars like Embiid, Maxey, and PG there is no reason this team should not be competing for the Eastern Conference and should be a very competitive team. Yes, injuries to all 3 stars have played a large role in their bad season, but the time they have played together has not been a night and day difference. Even with them struggling, there is simply too much talent on the team to be able to bottom out and get a top pick in this year's draft barring season ending injuries for multiple of their stars. It currently seems like the team is more likely to be in the lower seeding ranks of the playoffs and get bounced early once again. If you are a 76ers fan, all you can hope for is the team gets it together here soon so that whoever they do run into in the playoffs has a legitimate chance to lose.
Eagles:
The Eagles have been on fire this year, and were in a real position to potentially take over the 1 seed in the NFC and earn the all important playoff bye. They had a very easy schedule to end the season with the only two games that seemed like they might offer some resistance to their push for glory was a home matchup versus the Steelers and a road matchup versus the Commanders. After beating the brakes off the Steelers in convincing fashion, the upcoming matchup versus the Commanders did not seem all that threatening. Going into the game, all the stories were about how good this Eagles team has been and Saquon’s continued pursuit of the MVP award. All the stories leaving the game were about Jayden Daniels having fully established himself as the winner for the Offensive Rookie of the Year award and if Hurt’s concussion is serious. One thing that did not change for the Eagles was Saquon, who continued to be one of the best players in the league and inched ever closer to becoming the single season rushing leader. He is currently 267 yards away with two games versus the lowly Giants and Cowboys, so the record is well within reach. What will most likely stop him from hitting that goal is that the Eagles will most likely be locked into the 2nd seed come week 18 meaning there will be no reason for Saquon to play. So unless either the Eagles are still fighting for some type of seeding or Saquon has an incredible week 17 that puts him within sniffing distance of the record, I imagine he will not be able to break it and most likely not be winning an MVP. Now that we talked about what went right, let's talk about what went wrong. The Eagles lost QB Jalen Hurts to a concussion in the 1st quarter, leaving Kenny Pickett to come in and play the remainder of the game. To be fair to Pickett, he played okay with 143 yards and a 1/1 TD:INT ratio. By no means excellent, but could’ve been much worse. Plus, Saquon did his part on offense to keep the team going and they still scored 33 points. The real issue was the defense, who allowed Jayden Daniels to slice them up the entire game. And it was just the passing game, as the Commanders RBs combined for 32 total rushing yards and 2 fumbles. Jayden Daniels meanwhile ran for 81 yards, passed for 258 yards, and threw 5 TDs to 2 INTs. He played like a star and continued to establish himself as a future star QB. The Eagles obviously have to be disappointed with the result and even more upset and concerned with Hurts being injured, but the team has luckily played so well all year that a stumble like this really only hurts their chances at getting the top seed. They will most likely fill in as the 2 seed and play either Green Bay or Washington. Although they just lost to Washington, I imagine a home playoff date to get their revenge is certainly on the minds of many players and fans alike.
Flyers:
The good news for the Flyers this week is they were able to avoid the injury bug that seemed to come to town as there were no major player injuries this week for them. The bad news is that the team played pretty poor this week going 1-2 and barely getting that 1 win. They opened the week on the road after a 3 day break with a 6-4 loss to Detroit. Ignoring the empty net goal at the end they only lost by one goal and they kept the game close score wise, but they did not play great. Only 19 shots in total, with 10 of them coming in the third period. It was a normal Flyers game from that perspective, play like shit for the first two periods and then turn it on in the third. It is something we have seen from the Flyers for years now and it is part of the reason the team struggles to win games. They then played again on Thursday, this time a home matchup versus the Kings. The Flyers lost again, this time by a score of 7-3. Unlike the other game, they actually played a much better first and second period before getting closed out hard in the third. Going into the third tied 3-3 put the Flyers in a good spot to compete, but they simply got outclassed by a better team in the third. Through both games, the thing that stands out is how poor the Flyers goaltending has been. Ersson and Kolosov combined to allow 11 goals (each game saw one empty netter goal) on a total of 49 shots. It gave the goalies a combined 0.776 save % and a 5.5 GAA which I don't think I need to tell you are very bad. They played their last home game of the calendar year on Saturday against the Blue Jackets, and it looked like they were going to go 0-3 after the first two periods where they entered the third down 2-0. But like the Flyers do, they finally woke up and fought their way back into the game to force OT before a beautiful move by Tippett got the Flyers the win. Once again, goaltending was a main focus as Ersson was simply awful. The first two goals were both because he was heavily out of position leading to wide open nets, and Columbus’s 4th goal was a weak wrist shot from the point that Ersson didn’t even see. He ended the game with a 0.840 save % which is an improvement from the beginning of this week, but it does not change the fact the Flyers were getting goaltending this week with below 0.800 save % and 5 goals against a game which makes it hard to win. The MVP of their only win this week has to go to Tippett, as he had a trio of assists and the game winning OT goal. They head into the end of the year with 4 road games against the Penguins, Ducks, Kings, and Sharks. There is a real possibility that the Flyers could win 3 of those games as the Penguins, Ducks, and Sharks are all very beatable teams. At the same time, I could see the Flyers going 0-4 for the rest of this year as their porous goaltending and inability to play complete hockey until the third period of most games means every game, no matter the opponent, will be a challenge.
