August 21, 2025
Bill Streicher/Imagn Images
Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Kyle Schwarber (12) high fives teammates after scoring during the seventh inning against the Seattle Mariners at Citizens Bank Park.
One way to reassure your fan base, and serve notice to the rest of MLB, that losing your best pitcher and best overall player isn’t an automatic championship barrier is to do just what the Phillies did this week.
They wiped the Citizens Bank Park floor with one of the better teams the American League has to offer, pummeling the Mariners in a three-game sweep by a total score of 29-13 and pounding out an astronomical 48 hits and nine homers, including an exclamation point shot by National League homer leader Kyle Schwarber on Wednesday afternoon to put the finishing touch on an 11-2 whitewashing.
No Zack Wheeler? No problem.
Ranger Suárez, Cristopher Sánchez and Jesús Luzardo each took turns spinning gems while the Mariners spun themselves in and out the batter's box to the tune of a record 46 strikeouts, 34 coming from the starting rotation. Seattle added to the unseasonably gusty winds swirling around South Philly as the outer edge of Hurricane Erin climbed up the Atlantic. .
Ranger Suárez (10), Cristopher Sánchez (12) and Jesús Luzardo (12) set a Phillies franchise record (34) for most strikeouts by starting pitchers in a three-game series
— John Clark (@JClarkNBCS) August 20, 2025
This is the first time since at least 1901 that all 3 Phillies starters each had at least 10 strikeouts in a… pic.twitter.com/x37ptFU9G7
Who’d have thought these Phillies would set a strikeout record that wasn't charged to their batting order?
The Mariners walked into a buzzsaw they had no idea was coming, and neither did most of the fans that packed The Bank this week to witness an unprecedented display of batting prowess to complement the electric pitching.
The Phillies got 21 hits Monday.
— Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) August 20, 2025
They got 20 hits today.
In the modern era, the last time before this they had 2 games in the same series with 20+ hits would be ...
Never.
Baseball is crazy sometimes.
"Seems like they hit some balls hard, but a lot of what they didn't hit hard also found holes," Mariners manager Dan Wilson told reporters after Wednesday's close game turned into another debacle, a curious statement given the Phils' nine hits that found holes in the grandstands. "It just made it difficult."
Nobody tell Malcolm Jenkins, but the Phillies are infringing on the Eagles legend's trademark as they make their messaging loud and clear about losing Wheeler for the rest of the season, and probably the postseason, from a blood clot near his throwing shoulder.
They all they got, they all they need.
Nothing would be more bittersweet than seeing these Phillies bring John Middleton his bleepin’ trophy back while Wheeler, in the midst of perhaps his greatest season, watched from home, but the reality is you don’t have squint too hard to see another Philly Special taking place.
Is there a doctor in the house? We need a blood sample to detect the potential of identical double helixes in the DNA strands of those Eagles and these Phillies.
Sánchez, now the team’s de facto ace, channeled his inner Nick Foles, foiling Seattle with an almost out-of-body experience on the mound Tuesday as he masterfully worked his changeup and sweeper against a Murderer's Row of MLB dinger leader Cal Raleigh, Julio Rodríguez and Eugenio Suárez, only to have it temporarily spoiled by Orion Kerkering’s inability to throw a strike.
But the suddenly resurgent J.T. Realmuto’s eighth-inning blast followed by Jhoan Duran’s perfect ninth gave the Phillies exactly what they'd been missing for much of the season's first four months, and what they’ll need for October to be red again — a serious power threat behind Bryce Harper, and a door-slammer in the ninth.
Who knows if Realmuto will continue to resemble his 2022 form – the last time he clubbed more than 20 homers – and if the bottom-order Phillies will keep swinging the bats like they did against the Mariners. History says this streaky offense will come crashing back to Earth sooner than later.
But it’s undeniable that Duran’s addition has already led the Phils to winning games that they previously would’ve lost, like Tuesday’s 6-4 thriller and the consecutive one-run triumphs in Texas two weekends ago that cemented another three-game sweep.
Is this really a Phillies team refueled by the loss their ace, or just another ephemeral magic-carpet sweeping through the ebb and flow of a long season that’s bound to descend to sea level perhaps as early as this weekend against the Nationals?
Only time will tell.
But with every Schwarbarian blast as he hunts down Shohei Ohtani for NL MVP, and with every high-leverage appearance by the Durantula, the Phillies keep pulling away from the Mets in the NL East and hanging with the white-hot Brewers for the NL’s top seed.
And every game the Phillies get an RBI from someone not named Turner, Harper or Schwarber – that’s up to four straight games, all wins – the Phillies become an increasingly dangerous team.
It was suggested here last month that the Phillies didn't do enough in acquiring only Duran and Harrison Bader at the deadline to truly tilt the championship-contender axis their way, but if these are the Phillies that show up in the playoffs, if role players like Bryson Stott and Max Kepler have awoken permanently from their season-long slumber, then they stand a much better chance of contending than previously thought.
At this point, it doesn't appear any reinforcements are coming, or needed, from top prospects Andrew Painter and Justin Crawford.
Right now, the fate of the 2025 Phillies rests in the arms and bats of the guys who just made a long flight home for the Mariners even longer.
These Phillies are all they got ... is it all they need?
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