PHILADELPHIA -- "Aggressive, but not stupid."

That's how Bryson Stott described the Phillies' baserunning philosophy six months ago on the heels of making the club's latest gaffe on the basepaths. On that particular night, Stott roped a two-run bases-loaded single to pull Philadelphia within one against Miami, but the rally came to an abrupt end when Marlins infielder Jean Segura cut off the throw from the outfield and threw behind Stott, who had strayed too far around first base.

That marked the Phillies' eighth out on the basepaths through just 11 games. A few days later, Trea Turner ran into No. 9. It was not only the most in the Majors to that point, but it put the 2023 Phillies on pace to make 97 outs on the bases. To put that in perspective, Philly had 36 in 2022 -- and no team has more than 95 baserunning outs since the 1987 Expos (102).

"We’ll clean that up," manager Rob Thomson said at the time.

He was right.

Over the first two months of the season, the Phillies ranked 20th in the Majors with a -1.4 BsR (FanGraphs' baserunning metric). From June 1 onward, they accounted for 4.0 BsR, ninth-best in MLB.

That baserunning prowess has continued into the postseason -- and it goes far beyond stolen bases.

It's plays like Nick Castellanos swiping second in the fifth inning of Game 2 on Monday, then alertly going to third when the throw sailed into center field. He scored one pitch later on Stott's sacrifice fly.

In the National League Wild Card Series against the Marlins, Philadelphia baserunners moved up a base twice in Game 1 by getting a good read on a pitch in the dirt -- then did so once more on a wild pitch in Game 2. They did so once apiece in each of the first two games of the NLDS.

"I think we've done a good job," Thomson said. "We've stolen a lot of bases, we've taken a lot of extra bases -- put pressure on people. That's what you need to do in the playoffs, and you can't be silly, but I think we've done a good job taking advantage of that."

Of course, it hasn't come without a few hiccups, with the most significant being Bryce Harper getting doubled off first base to end Game 2 of the NLDS. There has also been a series of close calls involving third-base coach Dusty Wathan, most notably Harper cruising through a stop sign en route to scoring an insurance run in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series.

"He's just so aggressive, and he wants to win. He wants to score," Thomson said after Harper blew through Wathan's stop sign. "It's not like I tell him, 'Hey, if somebody tells you not to run, go ahead and run if you want to.' We don't do that. But he's just so instinctive and so aggressive that he, sometimes, runs through stop signs."

Harper led the Phillies by taking 19 extra bases (going first-to-third or second-to-home on a single, or first-to-home on a double), despite playing only 126 games. Surprisingly, Kyle Schwarber was second with 18, followed by speedsters Stott (17) and Turner (16).

But the success rates in trying to take those extra bases were quite different. Harper took the extra base 43% of the time, while Schwarber did so just 30%. Stott checked in at 49% and Turner was among the best in the Majors at 58%.

Overall, Philadelphia took an extra base 43% of the time -- good for 11th in the Majors. Atlanta was first at 51%.

The Phillies, however, were far more effective when it came to simply stealing bases, posting a 84% success rate -- third-best in the Majors. That included a perfect 30-for-30 from Turner in the regular season, while Stott went 31-for-34 (.91%).

Philadelphia is 7-for-8 on stolen base attempts in the NLDS.

"We knew that coming in, that they're aggressive," Braves manager Brian Snitker said. " ... Overall, they're very opportunistic, and they’ve got a lot of guys with a lot of success in stealing bases, too."

But it goes both ways.

Ronald Acuña Jr., who had an MLB-high 73 steals this season, stole third base with two outs in the bottom of the eighth in Game 2. That potentially changed the way Phillies reliever Jeff Hoffman attacked Austin Riley in the game’s decisive at-bat.

“It can be super important,” Thomson said. “Acuña steals third base there -- does that affect the breaking ball? [Hoffman] doesn't want to spike it.”

And in a best-of-five series, the Phils know every extra base could be the difference.

"Getting extra bases is critical," Thomson said. "Getting into scoring position, going first to third, getting a dirt-ball read. We've been doing a lot of good things with that."