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Phillies’ biggest flop to begin 2026 MLB season
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- Phillies’ biggest flop to begin 2026 MLB season
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The Philadelphia Phillies are a veteran team loaded with confidence. Manager Rob Thomson may have the best team in the National League when it comes to challenging the Los Angeles Dodgers for league superiority. While the crucial confrontations with the Dodgers and the other top National League teams will come much later in the year, the Phillies don't want to fall too far off of the pace needed to stay in contention.
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The Phillies came up with a 4-3 victory Saturday over the Arizona Diamondbacks . However, they have not gotten off to a stellar start. That victory left them at the .500 mark after 14 games. That's not the kind of position this team wanted to be in at this point in the year.
While it is not the end of the world, the Phillies want to get their season on track. The Phillies should have one of the best offensive attacks in all of baseball, but that area has been a disappointment.
They have scored 50 runs in their 14 games, and that ranks 26th among Major League Baseball's 30 teams. The Phillies are beneath the 25th-ranked Boston Red Sox , a team that has looked lifeless to this point in the year. They are ahead of the Kansas City Royals and San Francisco Giants . Those two teams are tied for 27th.
The Phillies need to get their offense going quickly so they can establish their swagger. They dominated the National League East a year ago. The Atlanta Braves had a disastrous season and never gave a hint that they could contend for a playoff spot. They are in first place this season and ready to make up for last year's nightmare. The rival New York Mets are also struggling with a 7-8 record. The Phillies would like to put them in the rear-view mirror.
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Harper and Schwarber have to deliver big hits for the Phillies
Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images
The Phillies have been playing as if scoring in multiple innings in a game is against baseball's rules. They suffered a 5-4 loss to the Diamondbacks Friday night after scoring all of their runs in the first inning. They got blanked the rest of the way. The Phillies scored four runs in the third inning Saturday, and that was all the offense they could muster. It was good enough to earn the victory.
Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber are the two prime leaders for the Phillies, and either one of those stars can carry the team when they go on a hot streak. If they both get hot at the same time, they will simply dominate many of their opponents. They did hit back-to-back home runs in their win over the Diamondbacks, but more is needed.
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Harper is slashing .250/.350/.500 with 3 home runs and 9 runs batted in. While those numbers are not awful, they are not worthy of a player who signed a 13-year, $330 million contract. Harper will remain under the team's control through the 2031 season.
Schwarber has been an all or nothing hitter for several seasons, but he could be so much more than that. He is slashing .188/.371/.479 with 4 home runs and 9 runs batted in. However, he has struck out 23 times and is likely on a 200-strikeout season. He has done that twice in his career, and he has fanned 197 times each of the last two years.
Schwarber regularly fits the modern approach of delivering the long ball above everything else. However, this may be the season where the opposite-field approach might work well in combination with the implementation of the ABS system.
Supporting cast and starting pitchers need to step up
While the big names on the Phillies need to be more consistent, the supporting cast has fallen badly. Third baseman Alec Bohn has been invisible. He is hitting .157 with 1 home run and 8 RBI. He has just one other extra base hit — a double — besides his home run.
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Second baseman Bryson Stott has started 12 games for the Phillies, but he is hitting just .190 with no home runs and 2 RBI. Shortstop Trea Turner is a three-time All-Star and two-time National League batting champion, but he is hitting .237 with just 3 RBI. The 32-year-old is suddenly failing at the plate and Thomson needs him to wake up right away.
The Phillies know their starting pitching can be dominant, but that has not been the case to this point in the season.
While Christopher Sanchez has a 1.65 earned run average in 17.1 innings on the mound that has seen him make 3 starts, Jesus Luzardo
has a 6.23 ERA and has given up 12 earned runs in 16.1 innings.
Taijuan Walker has been something of dumpster fire with his 7.36 ERA while giving up 4 home runs in 14.2 innings of work.
Aaron Nola is the ace of the staff and he has been decent, but he has not pitched at anything close to peak level. He has a 3.63 ERA with 19 strikeouts in 17.1 innings. He needs to set the tone for the rest of the staff with a couple impressive outings that see him deliver 7-plus shutdown innings for the Phillies.
Related: Phillies' Andrew Painter scratched from start, but could still pitch
Related: Ken Rosenthal tackles Phillies' Bryce Harper 'elite' question
