The Athletics were back on the field Wednesday night after an off day, opening a three-game series against the Phillies in Philadelphia at the start of another cross-country road swing. Luis Severino was scheduled to start for the Athletics, while Cristopher Sanchez took the ball for the Phillies.
The matchup lands at a sharp moment for both clubs. Philadelphia entered the series 14-20 and in fourth place in its division, 10 1/2 games behind the Atlanta Braves, even after a winter in which the Phillies brought back essentially the same team that won 96 games and carried a $282 million payroll, fifth in all of baseball. The contrast has been plain: the Phillies rank 17th in home runs, 28th in batting average, 28th in on-base percentage, 26th in slugging and 27th in total runs scored, while their pitching has been uneven enough to leave them 26th in team ERA and tied for fourth in runs allowed, even as they have yielded the most hits in baseball and rank second in strikeouts.
That is the backdrop for a series that also asks a lot of the Athletics, who were on the East Coast for their third trip to the other side of the country already. Severino comes in with a 4.46 ERA and had turned in a pair of very strong outings before this start, while Sanchez had a 2.90 ERA through his first seven starts. The Phillies’ rotation has been a mixed picture overall, with Aaron Nola at 6.03 ERA, Jesus Luzardo at 5.09, Taijuan Walker at 9.13, Andrew Painter at 5.28 and Severino’s former teammate Luis Severino—now on the other side of the matchup—still one of several arms trying to steady a staff that has not matched its payroll.
Jeffrey Springs was scheduled to pitch for the Athletics on Wednesday evening, and Zack Wheeler was set for the Phillies in what would be his third game since returning from injury. Springs has a 1.46 ERA through his first four starts, but he left his most recent outing with hip tightness, adding another variable to a road trip already defined by distance and timing. Philadelphia’s early-season slide has come from underperformance at the plate and on the mound, and this series offers no soft landing: a high-priced club trying to stop the bleeding against an Athletics team still moving from stop to stop before the schedule brings them back home.
