The Phillies return from the All-Star break and host the New York Mets on Thursday night. Before Aaron Nola takes the mound and the boos start raining down on Juan Soto at Citizens Bank Park, let’s take a look at five storylines that will impact the Phils as the games get bigger and they try to make the postseason for a fifth straight year. THE TRADE DEADLINE At various times this season, the Phillies’ top need has appeared to be a right-handed outfield bat or a back-end starting pitcher. The club would still benefit from both, though newcomer Derek Hill’s contributions on both sides of the ball have at least partially addressed some of the outfield deficit. In recent weeks, bullpen has probably become the team’s No. 1 need, specifically a quality late-game leverage arm that can help deliver the ball to All-Star closer Jhoan Duran. It doesn’t really matter if the Phils get a lefty or a righty, as long as it’s a quality arm that throws strikes. In a perfect world, however, it would be a left-hander because Jose Alvarado has struggled. Aroldis Chapman would be the pie-in-the-sky acquisition, but his Boston Red Sox rallied before the break and are just a half-game out of the last wild-card spot in the American League. Not only has Alvarado struggled but right-hander Brad Keller, signed in the offseason to pitch in leverage situations in the seventh and eighth innings, recently missed time with forearm inflammation. Keller is back now, but eyebrows were raised over the weekend when he was not used in Detroit. That’s something to keep an eye on. Since June 1, the Phillies’ bullpen ranks 25th in the majors with a 5.21 ERA. In July, it ranks 29th with an 8.05 ERA and has walked 5.45 batters per nine, second-most in the majors over that span. The trade deadline is August 3. The Phillies are in the midst of their annual search for bullpen help. Baseball boss Dave Dombrowski got a good one in Duran last year. He doesn’t have a deep farm system to entice potential trade partners, but he’ll get something done. With a high-priced, aging, win-now team, the stakes are just too high not to. Fans aren’t the only ones curious to see what happens. The players are, too. Especially the guy in the first locker with the colorful spikes. “I think you know what we need, what we’re good at and what we’re not good at right now,” Bryce Harper said at All-Star media day Monday. “Obviously John (Middleton) wants to win. He’s going to put all his chips in where he needs to, but he’s going to be smart about our future as well. I’ve said this before. Obviously, I like the future of our organization and we need our future, but you’ve got to try to win as well. So whatever that looks like, I think Dave is going to do a great job, or I hope he does, and gets the things we need.” RACE FOR THE CY Cristopher Sanchez and Zack Wheeler are right in the thick of a crowded NL Cy Young race that could go down to the wire. They rank Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, in bWAR for pitchers in the NL – Sanchez at 5.4 and Wheeler at 4.8. Sanchez, who finished second in the voting last season, ranks second in the NL in innings (127 1/3) and strikeouts (144). He is sixth in ERA at 2.62. He racked up the fifth-longest scoreless innings streak (50 2/3 innings) in MLB history earlier this season. Since the streak ended, however, Sanchez carries an ERA of 4.50 in eight starts. Makes you wonder if he’s getting a little fatigued. Something to keep an eye on as the second half gets going. Wheeler missed five starts at the beginning of the season so he does not yet qualify for the league ERA lead. If he did, his mark of 2.13 ERA would be second-best in the NL to Milwaukee’s Jacob Misiorowski. His 0.892 WHIP would also be second in the league. Wheeler projects to have enough innings to qualify for the league lead by mid-August. He has twice finished second in the Cy Young voting and badly wants to win one. His innings total may end up being around 170. Can he win it at that number? Sure, he can. Corbin Burnes won the award with 167 innings in 2021, beating out Wheeler, who led the majors with 213 1/3 that season. Sanchez and Wheeler face plenty of competition for the Cy Young. Misiorowski, Chris Sale, Chase Burns, Eduardo Rodriguez, Max Meyer and Shohei Ohtani, among others, are all in the mix. SOME NOTABLE SERIES The Phillies have a big one next week when they host the Los Angeles Dodgers for three games at Citizens Bank Park. The Dodgers have the best record in the majors and eliminated the Phillies from the postseason last year. Once again, they look to be a team the Phillies must get past if they want to make the World Series. The Phils lost two of three at Dodger Stadium in May. They’ll have another chance to measure themselves against baseball’s best next week. A week after seeing the Dodgers, the Phils travel to Miami for three against a surging Marlins team that is right on their heels in the NL East and wild-card races. Miami has the best record (26-11) in the majors since June 1 and is 31-20 at home. The Phils come back from the All-Star break trailing first-place Atlanta by two games. The Marlins are just four back. The Phillies and Braves will square off seven times in 10 days in early September. HELP FROM THE MINORS? If the Phils spend their limited trade currency to add bullpen or outfield help, they may not have enough to address the back end of their starting rotation. They would love nothing more than to see enough improvement in Andrew Painter to bring him back from Triple A. It’s worth keeping an eye on Gage Wood’s progress at Double A. Would Dombrowski bring last year’s first-rounder to the majors down the stretch to help in the bullpen? It probably depends on the hard-throwing right-hander’s ability to throw strikes. It might be a long shot, but Dombrowski has been bold in the past. Right-handed reliever Alex McFarlane is also at Double A, striking out almost 12 batters per nine innings. However, he’s walking almost five per nine. He throws hard and features a good slider. Maybe he earns a look if he can throw strikes. Also, veteran Tommy Pham is still in the minors. The right-handed hitting outfielder could be in the mix if he gets hot. CHASING RECORDS Kyle Schwarber leads the majors with 32 homers. He’s on pace for 56, which would equal his NL-leading total from last season. Can Schwarber break Ryan Howard’s club record of 58, set in 2006? Can he get to 60? Schwarber is 28 shy of 400 homers in his career. Bryce Harper is just 17 short of 400. Can they both get there this season? On the flipside, Schwarber leads the majors with 144 strikeouts and is on pace to break the all-time single-season record of 223, set by Arizona’s Mark Reynolds in 2009. Harper, who missed time each of the last five seasons with injury, has been remarkably durable this season. He’s played in all 97 games. Manager Don Mattingly knows he must get Harper an occasional day off in the second half to optimize production. ...read more read less