Less than a month after many thought he had played his last game in red pinstripes, Taijuan Walker is scheduled to start for the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday. He will do so on a day that the Phillies might be attempting to win the NL East for the first time since 2011.

Rob Thomson announced on Monday to the Milwaukee media, including Todd Zolecki of MLB.com, that Walker will open the Phillies’ season on Thursday against the New York Mets. The news was made a few days after Walker relieved and pitched three shutout innings, which gave the Phillies the opportunity to overcome the Mets.

Walker last started on August 28 against the Houston Astros, going six innings and giving up six earned runs in a game that ended in a 10-0 loss. Walker was kept in an attempt to keep the bullpen fresh because the game was ended early. That came after Walker gave up eight hits and six earned runs in just three innings during his start at Kansas City.

However, despite the widespread belief that the Phillies would just remove the band-aid and assign Walker, they chose to transfer him to the bullpen. Undoubtedly, the fact that he was only in the second season of a four-year, $72 million contract affected his choice. Since being shifted to the bullpen, Walker has made three relief appearances and has worked eight innings with a 4.50 ERA.

Essentially, this indicates that the Phillies have run out of options for replacing Walker. Since Walker was removed, the Phillies have used three pitchers in the No. 5 spot, all of whom have had significant difficulty.

Allard has a 4.29 ERA in the 21 innings he has worked for the Phillies this season, so there’s little doubt that the team ought to have given him another chance. While that isn’t very good, it’s better than Walker’s 6.29 ERA over 78 2/3 innings pitched.

When the postseason arrives, the fifth starting will ultimately be a moot point. The Phillies had best hope that, in the meanwhile, their prospects of securing the first seed in the National League playoffs aren’t harmed by the absence of a reliable alternative at the end of the rotation.

Fans Of The Phillies Can Register For A Chance To Win

The Phillies have offered a ticket chance for supporters to attend a postseason game at Citizens Bank Park in anticipation of the team making it to the postseason.

“The best baseball fans in the world have created an incredible atmosphere at the ballpark this season,” stated John Weber, senior vice president of ticket operations and projects for the Phillies. The prospect of another Red October in Philadelphia excites us much. For a chance to buy tickets to a playoff game at Citizens Bank Park, we invite fans to register at phillies.com/postseason.”

What fans should know is as follows:

Subject to availability, only qualified fans whose registration is chosen in the random drawing(s) for each round will be able to buy tickets.
The deadline to register for any possible round of the postseason is Saturday, October 12, at 11:59 p.m. EDT on phillies.com/postseason.
Fans will have the ability to purchase tickets for any possible postseason round once they have registered.
Depending on availability, randomly chosen entries will receive an email notification with a link to purchase postseason home game tickets.
Your registration does not ensure that you will be able to buy postseason tickets for the Phillies.
“Given that our season ticket base has doubled to 20,000 in the past two years, ticket availability will be extremely limited through this opportunity,” Weber stated.