April 02, 2026
Bill Streicher/Imagn Images
Justin Crawford had a very solid opening homestand, hitting .412 through six games.
Everything about the Phillies, on paper, suggests this team should not have gone 3-3 in their opening six-game stand at home.
The pitching has been among the worst units in the entire sport. The offense is flat — they stranded 26 runners in scoring position over six games.
And yet, they salvaged three wins and will travel west to face two struggling NL West teams on their road trip starting this weekend in Colorado and ending next week in San Francisco.
It's been interesting, frustrating and dramatic watching the Phillies to start the year. Here are five insightful observations we wanted to share as the team takes a day of rest:
The Phillies are the only team in the NL East right now with a negative run differential — a big ugly minus-13 — which is actually the worst in the entire National League and trails only the Red Sox and White Sox in the American League. But somehow they have three wins.
Credit that in large part to ace Cris Sánchez, who allowed one run over his two starts, both wins for the Phillies in their first six games. But also to some very clutch hitting. Philly has the eighth fewest runs per game so far, and they're slashing .220/.314/.360 as a team — numbers that would get a player demoted. But in their three wins, they've gotten some really timely hits.
• A two-run homer from Kyle Schwarber and a three-run homer from Alec Bohm in the opener against the Rangers.
• Solo shots from Schwarber and Adolis García Tuesday against the Nationals, paired with a run scored on an error in a tight 3-2 win.
• Edmundo Sosa's clutch two-RBI single in the ninth Wednesday, and Justin Crawford's walk-off in the tenth on getaway day against Washington.
The Phillies are hitting .229 with runners in scoring position, 23rd in baseball. Interestingly however, they're hitting .259 with two out and runners in scoring position, which is 11th best. And even more interestingly, in late and close situations (plate appearances occurring in the 7th inning or later where they're ahead by one, tied, or have a potential tying run on deck), the Phillies are .360, best in the National League.
Phillies hitters are hitting .151 so far against left-handed pitchers. That's a putrid 28th. They're hitting .272 against righties, the fifth best in the majors.
It's extremely early, and worrying about splits with such a small sample size behind them is extreme, but it's a very interesting illustration of a simple explanation for current hitting woes. It's plaguing hitters on both sides of the plate. Bohm and Trea Turner, both righties hitting in the top four in the batting order, are a combined 2-for-23 with one hit apiece against lefties. Schwarber is 1-for-14. Bryce Harper is 3-for-15.
Thankfully, two of three starters in their next series, against the Rockies in Colorado, are right-handed.
We mentioned the Phillies' run differential — the worst in the NL — which clearly means there's a pitching problem. They have the worst ERA in the league so far, 5.46 and trail just the disaster White Sox at 29th in the majors. A lot of other metrics aren't as bad, they are not walking a high number of hitters, the strikeout numbers are still good and they've only given up six home runs.
That suggests bad luck, and their brutal .348 batting average on balls put in play confirms that. It's the worst number in the NL and again, trails just the White Sox in MLB. That number will eventually come down.
Even more encouraging is the fact that Phillies pitchers aren't actually giving up hard hit baseballs very often. Their average exit velocity against is 87.5 MPH, the fifth softest number of all 30 teams. And their "hard hit" rate (percentage of balls hit over 95 MPH) is just 35%, the sixth lowest.
A 1-3 start definitely dampened the excitement for the new season before a pair of wins salvaged a 3-3 start at home for the 2026 Phillies. But slow starts are nothing new, and they haven't really held the team back from reaching the postseason:
| Season | Start | Finish |
| 2026 | 1-3 | ? |
| 2024 | 1-3 | 95 wins |
| 2023 | 1-5 | 90 wins |
| 2022* | 3-5 | 87 wins |
*To begin their run to the pennant in 2022, the Phillies actually started 21-29 before finishing the year 66-46 and making the World Series.
It should come as no shock that Kyle Schwarber is tied for the lead in Major League Baseball right now in total ABS challenges (4) and wins (3) — with Mike Trout. Known for his plate discipline and eye for pitches, Schwarber is also among the early leaders for pitches per at bat as he is every season.
If the Phillies manage this challenge system correctly, Schwarber should finish among the leaders in challenges. He's got a great eye at the plate and hitting in the 2-hole, more strikes turned to balls could give Harper more RBI chances hitting behind him.
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