Philadelphia Phillies vs Texas Rangers Matchup Preview - March 30th, 2023

Thursday the Philadelphia Phillies (0-0) will battle the Texas Rangers (0-0). Oddsmakers peg the Rangers as the favorite with an implied win probablity of 55%, leaving the Phillies with a 45% chance to record a win. Based on the current odds the Phillies have an implied team total of 3.06 compared to 3.44 for the Rangers.

Philadelphia Phillies Insights

• Aaron Nola has been given a longer leash than the average pitcher since the start of last season, throwing 9.0 more adjusted pitches-per-game than league average.

• J.T. Realmuto has seen a significant improvement in his exit velocity on flyballs this year; just compare his 91.9-mph average to last year's 94.8-mph mark.

• The Philadelphia Phillies bullpen projects as the 8th-best in Major League Baseball, via The Sharp Model.

Texas Rangers Insights

• It may come as a surprise, but fastballs are generally a pitcher's least effective pitch. Jacob deGrom has utilized his non-fastballs 9.9% more often this season (52.5%) than he did last season (42.6%).

• Corey Seager has been unlucky with his batting average this year; his .243 figure is quite a bit lower than his .285 Expected Batting Average (based on The Sharp Model X's interpretation of Statcast data).

• Josh Smith hits a lot of his flyballs to center field (39.3% — 93rd percentile) and faces MLB's 6th-deepest CF fences today.