September 14, 2026
Bill Streicher/Imagn Images via Reuters Connect
The Phillies haven't given fans too many good memories in home playoff games the last few seasons.
It's conventional wisdom — you want to play at home. Especially in the postseason.
The Phillies, during their run to the World Series a few years ago, enjoyed one of the best home-field environments in the sport. And theoretically, they still have it.
The fans aren't any less hungry and they continue to show up in droves to support the team.
“Obviously, (we're) trying to run down the Braves and the Cubs at the same time," Bryce Harper told reporters last week "We expect our crowds to be loud and crazy and obnoxious, talk the crap that they do to other players.”
However, it hasn't translated to wins this season.
Baseball is the pro sport with the biggest sample size. We're not talking about eight home games, like in the NFL. In 75 games at home this season, the Phillies have gone 41-34, the 15th best mark in the majors. Concordantly, they have the fifth best record on the road this season at 42-33. That's a compelling case by itself.
These numbers are all relative, and context can help. The Phillies have made the postseason in each of the last four seasons and they control their own destiny to make it a fifth, with 12 games left in the regular season. Here's a look at how the Phillies have done both at home and away over the last few regular seasons:
| Season | Home W-L | Rank |
| 2026 | 41-34 | 15th |
| 2025 | 55-36 | 1st |
| 2024 | 54-27 | 1st |
| 2023 | 49-32 | 8th |
| 2022 | 47-34 | 10th |
That's a pretty stark drop off. The Phillies were the best team, in all of baseball at home the last two seasons — which makes sense as they won north of 95 games in each of them. This year is different. And a lot of it is hard to make sense of.
Below is a look at the Phillies' respective stats at home, and on the road. It stands to reason that they would hit better at Citizens Bank Park, as it's one of the more hitter-friendly ballparks in the league. And it also would make sense for them to pitch worse, because the ballpark is also friendly to opposing hitters. But the diverging numbers from 150 games (exactly 75 at home and 75 away) are more drastic than you'd expect:
| Stat | Home | Away |
| Home runs | 99 (8th) | 77 (23rd) |
| Runs per gm | 4.92 (6th) | 4.08 (28th) |
| OPS | .761 (8th) | .664 (29th) |
| ERA | 4.09 (20th) | 3.89 (7th) |
| WHIP | 1.272 (16th) | 1.295 (12th) |
If you just look at the slash line, there is a gigantic discrepancy. At home Philly has a .255/.326/.434 combination of batting average, on base percentage and slugging. Away from Philly it's .230/.297/.367.
It's also interesting to see that while the Phils' ERA is lower on the road, their WHIP (walks and hits per inning) is actually higher. They allow more base runners away from home.
It's a fun, contrarian narrative to say that the Phillies would be better served on the road in the first round of the playoffs. But that narrative is not as much based on the numbers as it is on a small sample size of truly bitter losses over the last few Octobers.
Their failings in the postseason have been haunting them a bit.
In 2022 and in 2023, the Phillies went 6-2 in home playoff games (they went 5-4 in 2022 on the road, losing in the World Series and 2-3 on the road in 2023, losing the NLCS in seven games). In two postseasons combined after those two deep runs, they're 1-3 at home.
Dating back to their losses in Games 6 and 7 against the Diamondbacks, respectively, the memories are not good. They melted down against the Mets in the eighth inning in 2024 (in Game 1) and last year suffered in Game 2 against the Dodgers in the "Wheel Play" game.
It feels like eons since Bedlam at the Ballpark.
The Phillies and Cubs are tied for the top Wild Card spot — the No. 4 seed in the NL which carries with it a three-game home series to start the postseason. They lose a theoretical tiebreaker, so they're really a game back with 12 to play. It would be ridiculous for them not to want those three games at home.
They hit better here. They sleep in their own beds here. And a run at a World Series would require them to play in Citizens Bank Park quite a bit anyway. Might as well see if they can shake off their demons from 2024 and 2025 sooner than later.
The Cubs play the Braves, Red Sox, Marlins and Reds to end the season — two contenders. The Phillies play the Nationals, Mets, Brewers and Rays — also two contenders.
It could be a wild finish. But home field advantage is worth fighting for.
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