May 24, 2026
Bill Streicher/Imagn Images
Kyle Schwarber has been a very hot and cold player this season.
The Phillies' offense is an elusive unit.
After flexing and dominating through six consecutive series wins, helping the team dig out of a brutal start to reach the .500 mark again, it's been hard to find over the last week of games.
Following a dropped series to the Reds that saw them score just 10 runs, they scored only four in a series setback to the Guardians.
Still, despite falling in two of three games to the first place team in the AL Central, they held their opposition to just four runs as well (only two from starters). The pitching is just elite, there's no other word for it.
Here are some awards we felt compelled to hand out after an eventful and memorable threesome of games at Citizens Bank Park over Memorial Day Weekend:
After going eight scoreless innings Friday, Sánchez is joining some of the greatest pitchers in the history of the sport with his current stretch of dominance. He has tossed 37.2 blank innings in a row, the second longest streak by a Phils pitcher in the team's history dating back to 1893. He trails only Grover Cleveland Alexander (who's streak of 41 innings could be attainable next week).
The longest such streak by a lefty, ever, was set by Clayton Kershaw in 2014. Anytime Sánchez is on the mound, it's appointment viewing. His change up might very well be the filthiest pitch in baseball right now.
It's hard to be better than Wheeler, especially this season. The Phils second ace has been spectacular since returning from Thoracic Outlet surgery last year, he tossed six scoreless innings of his own Saturday in a Phillies 3-0 win. He has a 1.67 ERA on the year and even after the late start he's 17th of all major leaguers in pitching WAR.
Sánchez is first in the league in WAR and is the front-runner right now in a loaded NL Cy Young race.
The Phillies are 6-0 in Wheeler's start this year. It's pure randomness — mostly. For whatever reason, the Phillies get the right combination of offense and dominance on the mound when he's the starter. His first slump bust of the season was actually arguably the one that saved their season, as he made his 2026 debut in Atlanta back in late April and helped boost the Phillies to their first win in 11 games. They've turned it around since then, on the heals of their managerial change.
Philly completely wasted Sánchez' eight shutout innings Friday night, as the offense mustered a putrid four hits and no runs, eventually falling to Cleveland in the ninth (more on that in a bit). The Phillies offense is an inconsistent bunch, and its taken some major strides since the 9-19 start. Still, there has to be some kind of support for Sánchez, who is going to give the Phillies their best chance to win every five days. The lefty generally gets pretty good run support, this was just an unlucky aberration.
Do the Phillies have the best closer in baseball? A case is certainly there to be made. But even Duran can't be completely perfect. Handed zero runs of support in a 0-0 game to open the Guardians series, Duran surrendered a flukey pinch hit solo shot with one out to Kyle Manzardo in the top of the ninth. The offense didn't respond in the bottom, and a blemish was added to Duran's record.
Duran gave up just three home runs in 70 innings in 2025. This was his first long ball of the year. He had no problem earning the save a day later on Saturday evening.
Entering Sunday's finale, a shocking stat was floating around — second baseman Bryson Stott leads the entire NL in RBI so far in the month of May. His 20 RBI are the most of any Phils second baseman over that kind of stretch since Chase Utley (who actually did it 11 times).
The best recipe for a Phillies World Series run, in addition to the kind of light's out starting pitching they are currently getting, is having secondary hitters who can get hot and make an impact. Brandon Marsh has done it. Alec Bohm is starting to, and Stott is having his moment. Maybe the offense has enough weapons to get the job done after all?
In 10 games leading up to the Phillies final game in their sweep of Pittsburgh last week, Schwarber had hit nine home runs, smashed 16 RBI and got himself on pace for an insane 72 homers this season. His slugging percentage was 1.049, a superhuman number.
Schwarber's power comes in bunches, and in the four games he's played since — the big bat did have two hits Sunday (neither contributing to a run)— he is 2-for-17. This includes a stretch against the Reds that saw him miss all three games with a stomach bug. Also, it's been a cold Memorial Day Weekend. Everyone knows Schwarber hits when it's warm out. Either way, it's a matter of time before the next hot streak kicks in, the team hopes at least.
Painter was solid again Sunday, earning his second career quality start (his first came in his first career start back in April), allowing just two runs while scattering six hits in 6.1 inning's pitched. His trajectory is facing up. It's the fifth time in his last six outings where he's allowed three or fewer runs.
However, there is a lot of work left to be done. Painter is worse later in the game, which makes sense — he's a rookie after all. In his series finale losing effort, Painter was pulled after throwing just 82 pitches, spelled by a lefty reliever. That's not something that would happen to Wheeler or to Sánchez. He's got to earn the trust and confidence of manager Don Mattingly, and posting quality starts is certainly the way to do that.
The Phillies are a game below .500 this season, and still have an NL Wild Card spot in their sites. If they want to earn one, they're going to need to learn to beat good teams.
Against losing teams (records under .500 at the time of the game), the Phils are 16-9. Against winning teams, they're now 10-18. The promising signs of their recent resurgence are not really indicative of them being a real contending team. With some real tough teams ahead on the schedule, it might get worse before it gets better again.
Immediately after the series loss Sunday, the Phillies are packing to hop on a long flight to San Diego. Next week, the Phils have their annual California swing, and it'll be a doozy this time.
First, three games against the 31-20 Padres who trail the Dodgers by hair for the lead in their division. Keep an eye on the Wednesday finale — old friend Walker Buehler will be starting for San Diego.
Then after Thursday off, the Phil will return to the site of their season-ending loss in the NLDS last October facing the high powered Dodgers for a trio of games next weekend to close out the month of May.
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