Giants reaping benefits of manager Gabe Kapler's growing pains with Phillies

The Philadelphia Phillies and San Francisco Giants are battling for the top wild card in the National League, and they face each other in a huge series this week. The managerial matchup between Rob Thomson and former Phils manager Gabe Kapler could play a huge role, and many Philadelphia fans will focus on the manager in the opposing dugout given his history with the city.

After the 2017 season, the Phillies were in dire straits. Their golden years of 2007-11 were a thing of the past, suffering through five straight losing seasons from 2013-17.

At a crossroads, the Phillies made the decision to pursue a forward-thinking manager to match the analytics approach of their young general manager, Matt Klentak. This was a complete reversal of the Phillies' formerly dismissive attitude when it came to the new metrics of baseball. In 2015, ESPN ranked all 122 teams of the four major American sports leagues by their belief in and application of analytics. The Phillies came in dead last.

Enter Kapler. The 12-year major league veteran spent the previous three seasons as farm director of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Despite having no managerial experience, the Phillies were clearly impressed by Kapler's enthusiasm and confidence. This was evident in his bold prediction that he would lead the Phillies to a "s---load of wins."

It's hard to judge a baseball manager after his very first game, but the Phillies' 2018 opener set the tone for the next two seasons in the worst way possible. After taking a 5-0 lead in Atlanta, Kapler pulled starting pitcher Aaron Nola after just 5.1 innings pitched. Nola had only thrown 68 pitches and allowed a grand total of three hits. A bullpen that Kapler was eager to rely on imploded, and a 5-0 Phillies lead turned into an 8-5 Braves win.

Despite this rough first impression, the Phillies appeared to right the ship as the season progressed. By Aug. 7, they were 15 games over .500 and led the National League East by a game-and-a-half. What followed was an outright collapse. 

The Phillies lost 33 of their final 49 games to finish two games under .500. After Atlanta eventually clinched the NL East, the Phillies were still in the hunt for a wild-card berth but proceeded to allow a whopping 39 runs in a four-game sweep at Colorado to slam the postseason door shut.

In the following offseason, the Phillies went all-in on the future by signing free-agent right fielder Bryce Harper to a 13-year megadeal. Expectations were deservedly high not only for the team, but for Kapler to learn from the previous season's disaster. The Phillies got off to a 33-22 start but lost 16 of their next 22, forcing them to play from behind in the wild-card chase the rest of the year. After being swept in a five-game series at Washington in late September, the Phillies had seen enough. Kapler's managerial tenure was over after two painfully mediocre seasons.

He wasn't out of a job for long, though. He became the manager of the Giants just a few weeks later. In an environment more friendly to his analytical and experimental approach, Kapler has been largely successful. Those "s---load of wins" he once promised came in 2021, when the Giants led baseball with a franchise-record 107 victories.

Kapler returns to Philadelphia Monday night when the Giants and Phillies begin a crucial three-game series with the Phils leading the Giants by two games for the top NL wild-card spot. (San Francisco holds the second spot.) 

Last season's Cinderella run to the World Series is likely enough for Phillies fans to avoid raining boos down on their former manager, but it's understandable if some fans still feel cheated by Kapler's tenure. He used the team and the city as an analytical guinea pig for two seasons, and San Francisco now reaps those rewards.