Um. . .not really. In 2021, we were .521 in the second half, actually. While dealing with a fairly massive Covid outbreak:
https://sonsofsamhorn.net/index.php?threads/now-its-sales-turn-sale-has-covid-will-not-start-sunday-9-10-update.34434/page-7#post-4606513 And the sticky-ban effect.
We had a good deal of player turnover in the offseason, so they're not really "the same team" - anymore than early 2021 was the same team as late 2021 with the additions of Schwarber and Iglesias and Shaw.
For this year if you replace some of Winckowski (team record 6-7), Crawford (team 4-6 in starts) with a healthy Chris Sale or Eovaldi. . .we'd be right in it. And that's partially because Winckowski (and possibly Crawford) would have likewise displaced Seabold, Bello, and Davis as emergency starters (1-6 - depending on how you look at some of those bridge starts.)
On the other side of the RS/RA equation, a healthy Hernandez and Story and Casas might have made a large difference. Or even JD Martinez avoiding his July/August collapse.
2022 basically came down to injuries. They weren't designed to be a powerhouse, but they should have been competitive with even normal injury luck.
They also didn't play optimally - for example, they certainly could have handled the Houck/Whitlock situation better, and seemed not to adapt offensively in the early going slump. But mostly, injuries.