The Phillies have a lot of goals for the 2024 season. After a pair of postseason runs that have come up just short of a World Series championship, it's easy to overlook the next 162 games in favor of another magical October run.
However, Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm knows the team has to stay focused for the next six months if they want to achieve their goals.
"You can't fast forward all the way to the playoffs. You got to play all 162," Bohm told the WIP Midday Show. "So I think, you know, this group as good as any keeps that in mind while, you know, we're playing our games here in March and April and starting the regular season that there's an entire schedule of games and we're building towards October."
The Phillies have made it no secret they are hoping to not just make the postseason, but finally take the NL East crown from the Braves and end their streak of six straight division titles.
However, as Bohm told Joe Giglio and Hugh Douglas, to do that, the Phillies need to play better early in the season.
"It starts starts on Opening Day," Bohm said. "I feel like the last couple of years [the Braves] have gotten off to such a hot start and gotten such an early lead that they're 10 games ahead of everybody and you're just chasing all year."
Slow starts have plagued the Phillies in the last two seasons. They were under .500 on June 1st and lost the division by over 10 games in each of the past two campaigns.
As for Bohm's personal goals in 2024, the third baseman wants to see another uptick in his power after hitting a career-high 20 home runs last season.
"Obviously I want to hit home runs, but in my life when I go up there and try to hit home runs, that's not generally the result I get," Bohm admitted.
"So selfishly, would I like to hit 35 home runs? Yes. But I know I'm also not going to do that by trying to go hit 35 home runs. So I'm just going to keep playing the game and, you know, take what the game gives me."
The Phillies open their regular season next Thursday against the Braves.