The overpowering Phillies sweep the Rangers and confirm that they’re a team on a World Series mission

If they’re being honest, the Phillies believe the last three games against the Rangers should have represented a World Series rematch. Texas, at least, did its part to make that happen.

The Phillies? Well, you know the story by now.

“I had a real hard time enjoying any part of the offseason, even when I was on vacation,” Nick Castellanos said Thursday, “just because of how bitter [last] season ended.”

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And after those twin defeats to Arizona — at home, no less — in Games 6 and 7 of the NL Championship Series, Phillies officials made a calculation. They would run back a roster that came this close to a repeat pennant — and give a group of players they believed in a chance at a do-over.

Think that was a wise move?

The Phillies swept the Rangers out of town, 5-2, on Thursday behind another seven-inning gem from a starting pitcher — Zack Wheeler this time — and timely hits from unlikely sources. They ran their majors-leading record to 37-14, becoming the 24th team since 1901 to win at least 37 of the first 51 games.

In front of another massive midweek crowd — 42,377 paying customers, the 11th sellout in 30 home dates — the Phillies won their sixth game in a row and completed their seventh sweep in 12 series. Since April 14, when they were 8-8, they have gone 29-6, their best 35-game roll since … checks notes … 1892?

Yes, 1892.

And although there’s a rinse-and-repeat formula to all this winning — a rotation that leads the majors in ERA (2.64) and innings (302⅔), plus an offense that has generated at least four runs in 13 consecutive games, the longest such streak since 2004 — there’s something else at play here.

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“We all know what we’re here for, we all know where we want to go, and we all know what our goal is,” said fill-in shortstop Edmundo Sosa, who continued his uncanny Trea Turner impression with three more hits. “Our goal is set. We want to go and finish something that we have on hold right now.”

A second chance is a powerful thing, and the Phillies sure do appear to be on a mission.

After months of talking about getting out of the blocks more quickly than in 2022 and 2023, they raced to the best 50-game start in franchise history. Tell them that no team has started more quickly since the 2001 Mariners, and they’ll remind you that those Mariners didn’t win the World Series.

“Winning is hard, right?” Castellanos said. “The fact that we’re able to feel triumphs together and face adversity together, it just makes our bond as a group better. Hats off to ownership and the front office for believing in the pieces that are already here.”

Castellanos capped the latest win with a seventh-inning solo homer, his first extra-base hit since May 12. But it was Sosa and reserve outfielder Cristian Pache who broke a 1-1 tie in the fourth inning.

Sosa, 14-for-41 (.341) in 14 starts since Turner strained his left hamstring, lined a one-out double. After Whit Merrifield reached on an error, Pache, inserted into the lineup by manager Rob Thomson for the first time in a week because the Phillies were facing a lefty, delivered a two-run triple to the gap over left fielder Evan Carter’s outstretched glove.

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An offense led by Sosa and Pache. Just as the Phillies envisioned, right?

“It’s amazing,” Castellanos said. “This is the best team that I’ve ever been a part of. And honestly, it’s next man up. Everybody is contributing. It’s somebody different every single day, and we’re all having a lot of fun doing it.”

There are times when it feels like the Phillies are toying with opponents. Consider, for example, the seventh inning, when Wheeler was suddenly on the ropes after back-to-back-to-back two-out singles trimmed the lead to 4-2.

Facing pinch-hitting Rangers catcher Jonah Heim with two on and two out and first base open, Wheeler fell behind in the count. So, he purposely walked Heim on four pitches, even though it loaded the bases for dangerous leadoff man Marcus Semien.

“I really didn’t want to get back into the at-bat [against Heim],” Wheeler said, “because with two guys on and the game where it was, I didn’t want to make too much of a mistake for him to put them ahead. I kind of just threw a couple pitches and just tried to start over with Semien. I know he’s a great hitter. I just wanted to start over with a count and go after him.”

With his 91st pitch of the game, Wheeler uncorked a first-pitch sinker up and in, right where he wanted it. Semien popped it up. Inning over.

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It marked the 18th time that a Phillies starter completed seven innings. As a rotation, the Phillies are a throwback to a time when starters went deep into games as a matter of course. It’s rare now. It’s also the main reason the Phillies are rolling.

“Incredible, man, how consistent they are, the way they go about their work on a daily basis, the stuff they do behind the scenes,” Castellanos said. “I just think it’s a result of having veteran starting pitching that the [coaching] staff believes in, so they get those extra innings when the lineup comes around a third time.”

It’s a belief that extends to all corners of a roster that came agonizingly close to meeting the Rangers in the World Series last year.

Six months later, the Phillies are appreciative of the chance to set things right and seemingly laser-focused on making it happen.

Run it back? Terrific idea.

“They’re never complacent,” Thomson said. “They keep fighting. They prepare, they compete, they have a lot of fun doing it. There’s kind of an edge to everybody. They want to finish it.”