The start on Sunday crowns an emotional week for new father Cristopher Sanchez

PHILADELPHIA – Even in Cristopher Sanchez's special year, 2024, last week stands out from the crowd.

Sanchez and his wife gave birth to their first child on Monday. The first-time All-Star, who signed a long-term contract that could pay up to $56.5 million over the next six years, then learned he would have the ball for Game 2 against the Mets on Sunday in the National League Division Series would get.

“It was all just really special,” Sanchez said through a translator before Game 1. “I think there's nothing better than coming home to my kid right now. “Just spending time with him and holding him all five of them Minutes in your arms. Just being all around him, all over him. It’s something I just can’t describe at the moment.”

The birth occurred exactly in the team's farewell week. He will cap his son's first week on the mound, with manager Rob Thomson taking Sanchez's home and road disputes into account when planning his move. Sanchez has a 2.21 ERA in 17 bench starts and a 5.02 ERA in 14 away starts. Opponents hit him .222 at home and .307 on the road.

Sanchez isn't entirely sure why, but at this point in the year it's not the most pressing question.

“This is something I just can’t explain,” Sanchez said. “I just feel very comfortable here and the fans give me the opportunity to feel comfortable at home.”

Sanchez went 11-9 with a 3.32 ERA this season. He didn't slow down as the season progressed, even though he surpassed his previous highs in innings pitched. He made one appearance last postseason, recording seven outs and allowing two runs (one earned) in Game 4 of the NLCS against Arizona.

Thomson had remained non-committal throughout the week as he and his staff reviewed the decision. Aaron Nola has been the No. 2 starter in a formidable duo with Zack Wheeler in each of the last two postseasons. But the combination of the split of left-handed starters in Games 2 and 4 and the fact that the two starters in Games 1 and 3 are least likely to need massive bullpen intervention helped Sanchez make sense for Sunday .

Sanchez starts off buoyed by Thomson's confidence and much more.

“It shows he trusts me a lot,” he said. “So I have kind of a weak point on my shoulder, but no pressure on it. That makes me feel good. I like that he trusts me. And as always: do my best and do what I have to do.”

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The Rest vs. Rust dilemma the Phillies expected in the off week looked different for everyone. For Bryce Harper, a week of rest could be particularly beneficial.

Harper struggled with intermittent pain in his right elbow and wrist during a low-performance August. It had nothing to do with Tommy John surgery on that elbow in 2022.

“I think the goodbye helped a lot of us, I think our entire team,” Harper said. “We kind of needed this, just a fresh start, mentally and physically. I thought we had a good week. … I think a lot of us really needed this week to recover a little bit and get going. I feel good mentally. I feel good physically.”

Harper's performance numbers dipped in the second half. He hit just six home runs and had 20 RBIs in his final 56 games despite hitting .282. He played in 145 games, the most since his debut with the Phillies in 2019, and hit 30 home runs for the fifth time.

He's now in the part of the season where he's been most spectacular: In 30 playoff games as a Phillie, he has 11 homers, 21 RBIs and a stratospheric OPS of 1.137.

“I think as a player at this point in the season every team has the same goal,” Harper said. “You just have to go out there and play your game.”

• • •

Thomson was approaching his third decade with the New York Yankees in 2009 when Carlos Mendoza was hired to join the Class A coaching staff in Staten Island. By 2012, he became the defensive line coach in the organization and worked with Thomson on organization-wide plans for spring training.

Mendoza was the Yankees' bench coach, a position Thomson once held when the Mets hired him to fill their vacant managerial position last November. He hopes to face a playoff underdog in his first postseason as a manager, similar to what Thomson did in 2022.

“I love Mendy,” Thomson said. “He’s a really good baseball player, he understands the game. He understands the players and he respects the players, so he knows how to deal with them. He understands how difficult this game is.”

• • •

The only open mystery to the Phillies' NLDS roster reveal was the identity of the 12th ranked pitcher, who became Kolby Allard. The left-hander prevailed against struggling starter Taijuan Walker and shorter-serving options like Max Lazar.

The deciding factor for Allard was length.

“He’ll probably give us the most pitch if we get into an extra-inning game,” Thomson said. “The (extra-inning) rules go back to Abner Doubleday’s rules, so I just wanted as much length as possible.”

The 27-year-old Allard had a 2-0 record and a 5.00 ERA in 27 innings. He has never pitched in the postseason before. He allowed four runs and six hits in three innings to the Mets on September 14th and then pitched two scoreless innings on September 19th.

The Mets are heavily right-handed, with only Brandon Nimmo and Jess Winker hitting from the left side. The Mets had an OPS of .769 against lefties this year, fifth-best in baseball. Allard makes four lefties and four righties in the bullpen.

• • •

The Mets made two changes to their roster from the Wild Card Series, one of which was Game 1 starting pitcher Kodai Senga. He and Tylor Megill are in the squad. Megill was unavailable against the Brewers after throwing 100 pitches in Game 1 of Monday's doubleheader to help propel the Mets into the postseason.

The squad includes Max Kranick and Huascar Brazoban, neither of whom appeared against the Brewers.