Heart of a Champion?

The 2011 Phillies set a franchise record in wins at 102. It was also the 3rd 100-win season in team history. The Mike Schmidt-led teams won 101 games in back-to-back season, '76 and '77, and the 2011 Phils eclipsed them at 102-60.

Debates will endure as the book is open on who is the best Phillies team in the franchises 129-year history. Many will remember Schmidt, Luzinski, Carlton and McGraw as the best ever. Others will insist that the plethora of all-stars, includuing Halladay, Lee, Utley and Howard, on the current team make it the all-time best.

For the 12th straight week, the Phillies are the No. 1 team in baseball, according to the ESPN Power Rankings.

That won't guarantee them a World Series birth, but it will raise the stakes on the expectations now before them. As baseball's 2nd season begins, the Phils are odds-on favorites to win it all, especially now that preseason darlings Boston has completed an epic collapse.

The Red Sox went 7-20 in September to propel Tampa Bay into the playoffs. They didn't win consecutive games after August. They spent the last week of the season getting pounded by the lowly Baltimore Orioles. Their manager, former Phillie skipper Terry Francona was let go.

In March, all analysts favored the Sox and the Phils in the '11 World Series. Now, it looks like the Phils and the Yankees, which would be a rematch of '09, are the on-paper favorites to meet in the October classic.

Of course, sports are played because of the element of surprise, and if there's one thing you can count on, it's the fact that at least one team will surprise in the playoffs.

“Last year, we had the best record in baseball, and we didn’t win [it all],” Shane Victorino said. “It’s nice to win 100 games, but ultimately, when the postseason starts, that all goes out the door.”

The high expectations for the Phillies entering October will not necessarily help them in history's eyes.

Now that no Phillies team has ever won more games than the current one, the 2 pivotal questions become:

1) Would it be a successful season if... ?

A) The team loses in the World Series? B) Or, the unthinkable: They fall short of reaching it?

2) Does this team have the heart of a champion?

The 1993 team went from last to 1st in 1 year. They were not the best team in the NL on paper, yet they won 93 games and laughed themselves all the way to the World Series and into the hearts of Philly fans like perhaps no other team, ever. Harry Kalas always said that incarnation of long-haired crazies was his favorite team, ever.

The 2008 team was a nucleus of home-grown talent that culminated and peaked at just the right time. Like the '10 Giants, it was a matter of timing as much as talent.

Since 1980, 40 baseball teams have won 100 games. How many have won the World Series? Just 4.

The '08 Phils won just 92, but they built late-season momentum, the kind that St. Louis is enjoying (16-5 in their final 21) on their current amazing run to an unlikely playoff birth, then utilized that momentum to win it all.

The 1980 Phils fell well short of their 101 win seasons in '76 and '77 in winning just 92 games. However, unlike the '76 and '77 teams that the '11 team has just surpassed, the '80 Phils saved best for last.

Will the 2011 team be remembered for their regular season wins or their postseason glory?

The book is still open, waiting to be written.