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In a season as long as the one baseball has, there have to be role players that step up to support the stars. The big names are the ones that are expected to carry the load and for the Phillies, that has been the case. Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper, Trea Turner and J.T. Realmuto have all played up their salaries on offense while Zack Wheeler and Cristopher Sanchez have led the pitching staff.
But you need the others to step up. For the pitching staff, there have been two pitchers that have really helped the Phillies a lot this season.
Taijuan Walker gave them some stability in the rotation when stability was unexpectedly needed. Having midseason struggles from two members of the rotation and an injury to another, someone had to give the team some solid starts and Walker did just that. It wasn’t always aesthetically pleasing, but it worked and the team won games.
For the bullpen, we know how important Tanner Banks has been enormous in his contributions, especially when put in context with the absence of Jose Alvarado. Sunday’s appearance was the biggest one yet and proved his worth to the team: escaping a premade jam with a small sliver of harm given up. Considering the circumstances, it was a great appearance.
Which do you think has been the bigger surprise?