While the Philadelphia Phillies played the role of the bridesmaid last season, they are on a run that any team in the league would kill for. They have gotten back to the World Series in back to back seasons, a feat that is truly rare these days. They also managed to steal headlines all winter long and eventually got the pitcher that they coveted at the end of last season.

Cliff Lee made a huge difference for the Phillies at the tail end of 2009 and it could be argued that they never would have made it that far without him. This year, they are starting the season off with a true Ace in Halladay. They chose not to stack the deck and keep Lee, but this is a team that needs to be feared by the rest of the league.

A lot of their success is going to depend on whether or not Cole Hamels can get past his difficulties from last season. One of the main reasons that the Phillies went after Lee was because Hamels was just flat out not doing his job as the team Ace. Whether it was a senior year slump, arm troubles or a big head, nobody knows.

Hamels is going to have a huge advantage pitching out to the number two hole. If he is at his best, there may be one or two pitchers in the league as a number two that will match up against him. Moving down that one spot just may be the move that gets him his confidence back. Regardless, the Phillies need him to eat up innings and preserve the bullpen for the tail end of the rotation.

A great bullpen makes a huge difference and while they struggled at time last year, the Phillies owed quite few wins to this group of pitchers outright stopping teams and allowing this incredible offense to play catch up. Brad Lidge will look to put the blown saves from last season behind him and get close to the form that he had in 2008.

While the pitching will be fun to watch, this team is all about knocking it out of the stadium. Imagine being a manager and knowing that you have seven legitimate shots in your starting lineup that can hit 20 or more home runs! Who else has that other than possibly the Yankees? This is a team that is going to put on run scoring show every night.

The seats are always filled in Philadelphia, so if you plan on getting good seats to see some games, you better move fast. While there really are not bad seats in this incredible stadium, it is always nice to be closer to the field and really see the action. All signs point to another deep run into the playoff and the possibility of some retribution against the hated New York Yankees.

By Jake Kohler, article sponsored by TicketSeating.com. TicketSeating.com sells Philadelphia Phillies Tickets, MLB Tickets, Sports Tickets and more to your favorite events around the world.