Phillies 2009 Prediction

Well tonight marks the start of the 2009 Phillies campaign to repeat as World Series champions or, as it has been frequently referred to as on many of the Phillies blogs, as WFC. Brett Myers gets the opening job for the third straight year, the first Phillies pitcher since Curt Schilling to open three straight seasons.

I feel that this year's team has potential to be better than the 2008 squad. Replacing 16 starts from Adam Eaton with a full year of Joe Blanton, possibly having a refocused Myers for an entire year and getting a full season out of Chan Ho Park as opposed to Kyle Kendrick only seems to give the Phillies a much better starting rotation with a steady Jamie Moyer and the ace in Cole Hamels.

I expect Jimmy Rollins to have a season that falls between his 2007 MVP season and last year (which seemed worse than it was because of his spectacular 2007 season). Ryan Howard will push for 50 home runs and Chase Utley will play at an MVP level.

Really, is there any reason not to expect a better season from the Phillies this year? I honestly don't see it. Of course winning the World Series will be tough again but the Phillies have what it takes to get back there.

I'll go on record and predict a 94 win season from the Phillies, culminating with a third straight NL East division title. But repeating is tough so I'll play the odds and say they lose to the Yankees in the World Series. Call me a sucker, but I buy into the hype that the Yankees may have just bought their way back to the Fall Classic.