Philadelphia Phillies: Despite Loss, Phils Still the Best Team in Baseball

Regrettably, the Philadelphia Phillies recorded their 47th loss last night to the Florida Marlins.

They are only 41 games above .500 at 88-47.

They are only four games ahead in the wins column of the second-best team in baseball, the New York Yankees.

According to MLB.com, the Phillies are only sitting on top of the Power Rankings for the fifth straight week.

They only have the best team ERA in baseball at 3.08.

There are only 8.5 games ahead of the Atlanta Braves in the National League East.

You know, maybe I am applying "only" to the wrong accomplishments. How about the Phillies only recorded their 47th loss last night? That sounds better.

I know that every loss is disappointing, and last night was particularly rough because they lost the lead in the bottom of the eighth. Nobody wants to lose that way.

Nevertheless, this game needs to be kept in perspective. The Phillies were on a five-game winning streak. That means that in the last six games they have a winning percentage of .833. This is much higher than the .652 winning percentage that they have put up with the rest of the year.

My point is that even though they lost one game, they are still the best team in baseball. No team has ever been able to go undefeated for an entire season.

All of those stats I seemed to downplay at the beginning of this article matter. Losing happens every once in a while even to the best of teams. Right now, the Phillies are the best team in baseball.