What we should (and shouldn't) learn from unexpected World Series matchup

TORONTO – At a moment like this, when two compelling teams have overpowered the competition on the way to the World Series, it can be tempting to search for meaning in this year’s pennant winners.

As in: What do the Phillies and Astros tell us about team-building in 2022? What are baseball operations leaders Dave Dombrowski and James Click doing that others should follow? It’s not a matchup many were anticipating, but both teams reached the World Series emphatically with plenty of breathing room to spare. These are talented – if very different – teams and they belong here.

Maybe there’s an obvious lesson to be found – if nothing else both owners spend – but in many significant ways, these teams are built differently. Where the Astros are industry leaders in player development, the Phillies have essentially outsourced theirs, signing core players like Bryce Harper, J.T. Realmuto, Zack Wheeler and Kyle Schwarber as free agents. And while the Astros are a deep, balanced team that does many things well, the Phillies make up for their defensive shortcomings with loud home runs and a top-heavy rotation.

With few clear through-lines connecting the creation of these teams, any attempts to draw over-arching meaning from this matchup should be made cautiously. But on a granular level? There’s always more to learn, and even if there’s no secret sauce for playoff success there are still small-scale lessons available every post-season.

What gets you to October? What’s essential once you get there? In what ways do those answers differ? Around baseball, the more forward-thinking teams are always asking themselves questions along these lines. It happens 12 months a year, not only the day after the World Series matchup is set, and front office people tend to be cagey when discussing these topics since they don’t want to prompt their rivals to investigate questions that lead to potentially valuable insights.

Ask an exec about their findings on what works in October and you’re likely to be met with silence or laughter. Maybe both.

In discussing the topic of October success with executives, there’s an acknowledgement that the sport’s incredibly unpredictable this time of year. Random, though? That might be overstating it, as the teams that win in October tend to share common traits. They’re often healthy, they’re often prolific home run hitters (stringing singles together against elite pitching is tough), they tend to leverage a few elite arms all month and more often than not they play good defence.

(Of course as this defensively challenged Phillies team shows, those are guidelines rather than hard-and-fast rules.)

Within front offices, teams surely have precise findings that go well beyond those generalities. But whatever they are, nothing changes the big picture here. The first and most important step to winning the World Series is simply making the playoffs. The presence of a No. 6 seed – the Phillies – should reinforce that lesson this World Series.

And remember: it wasn't until the final weekend of the regular season that the Phillies beat the Brewers for the final playoff spot in the National League. With that knowledge in mind, it would be somewhat disingenuous to put the Phillies on a pedestal.

Yes, they're a deserving World Series team, and in the view of many executives a better team than their 87-75 record would suggest. Give Dombrowski, manager Rob Thomson and all those players credit. They’ve earned their way here, they represent a legitimate threat to the Astros and would be deserving winners.

But their success doesn’t mean teams should punt on defence or build through free agency. It simply means the 2022 Phillies have had an amazing year – one that should inspire respect if not necessarily imitation.