September 11, 2025
Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher/Imagn Images
Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Harrison Bader (2) reacts after his double against the New York Mets during the first inning at Citizens Bank Park.
When we last saw the Mets and Phillies collide before this week, Cristopher Sánchez was seen kicking a water cooler in the dugout and Jesús Luzardo was shouting at the home-plate umpire while exiting the mound.
That was Aug. 25-27 in Queens at Citi Field, where the Mets are notoriously dominant – and where the Phillies are notoriously not.
Change the ballpark, change the fortune.
After taking the first three games of the series, starting with Monday's 1-0 win behind Aaron Nola's most significant win of the season, the Phillies churned out two blowout wins by a 20-6 combined score before finishing off the four-game sweep Thursday night by rallying back from a four-run deficit to take the critical 6-4 win.
Redemption for Sánchez and Luzardo came in the last two wins, with Sánchez slamming the doors on the Mets on Wednesday that guaranteed the Phils would at very least take the series.
Luzardo showed remarkable poise after allowing four first-inning runs Thursday, silencing the Mets over the next six frames – retiring the last 22 batters he faced – while Otto Kemp, Bryce Harper and Nick Castellanos helped the Phils rally for six unanswered to send the Mets out of South Philly trailing in the National League East by 11 games with just 15 to play.
The magic number for the Phillies to clinch the NL East is down to 5, and the possibility of a division clinch by the end of the weekend is in play.
Here are some of the other major storylines from the Phillies' sweep of the Mets:
The offense, especially the leadoff spot, passed its first test without Trea Turner and Alec Bohm, although Bryce Harper took home an oh-fer in the opening game from the leadoff hole.
Harrison Bader took the leadoff spot the rest of the way and delivered multi-hit games each time, combining to go 7-for-15 with a homer, double, and five RBIs. Bader is on fire, with four consecutive multi-hit games.
Kemp, up from Triple-A Lehigh Valley again to help replace Bohm, clubbed a two-run homer in the fourth Thursday that cut the Mets' lead to 4-2 as the Phils climbed out of an early hole, and his RBI double in the sixth tied the game. He also logged two hits, including a homer, in Tuesday's win.
Aaron Nola's miserable, injury plagued season potentially came to a fork in the road, as Nola set the tone for the series by turning in his best start since his Aug. 17 return and perhaps inspired some confidence that he can be a functional starter in the postseason.
Nola has a few more starts before the playoffs to build on Monday's masterpiece and prove that he can be a starter if he's needed, but even if Nola's arrow trends upward, manager Rob Thomson's decision isn't being made easy as Sánchez, Ranger Suárez and Luzardo continue to make their cases.
Suárez is racking up strikeouts at an unseen pace for him, as the southpaw fanned 12 in the 1-0 win Tuesday, giving him double-digit strikeouts for the third time in his past five starts. Consider this from MLB.com's Paul Casella:
Ranger Suarez starts with double-digit strikeouts:
— Paul Casella (@Paul_CasellaMLB) September 10, 2025
First 111 career starts: 2
Last 5 starts: 3**
** Including a career-high 12 K's tonight.
Luzardo appeared to be en route to another one his implosions from earlier this season, allowing hits to five of the first six batters he faced, but the left-hander did much more than settle down or bounce back. When it appeared he might be knocked out early, Luzardo instead completed eight innings and struck out four of the last five batters he faced and 10 overall.
When the Mets needed them the most, their superstars couldn't come through.
Alonso went 4-for-15 in the series and fanned seven times while Soto went 6-for-16 with a double and a run scored. Soto homered, but it came with the Mets down 9-1 in the eighth inning Wednesday, as hollow of a homer as there is.
The supposedly dynamic duo combined to strike out six times in 10 at-bats Tuesday as they had no answer for Suárez.
And don't let Francisco Lindor off the hook. Last year's runner-up to Shohei Ohtani for MVP went hitless for the entire series in 16 at-bats, as the Mets' offense was basically punchless out of the first inning Thursday night.
Believe it not, Kyle Schwarber entered the series without a homer since his four-dinger showcase Aug. 28 against the Braves, an eight-game drought that reached nine when he went homer-less Monday night.
And then came this Tuesday night in the seventh inning, with two on ...
KYLE SCHWARBER REACHES 50 HOME RUNS! pic.twitter.com/8YRpNyJ59n
— MLB (@MLB) September 10, 2025
Historic homer No. 50 put the dagger in the Mets by opening a 7-1 lead and made Schwarber just the second Phillie, first since Ryan Howard in 2006, to club 50 homers in season. Howard belted 58 in '06. The question is: With 15 games left, can Schwarber threaten Howard's 19-year record and get eight more?
Schwarber hit 8 in 11 games between July-July 25 that overlapped with 8 in a 12-game stretch spanning the end of July and start of August.
In short, it can be done.
The Phillies stay home and welcome a three-game interleague series against the Kansas City Royals at Citizens Bank Park. The Royals are fighting for the American League's third Wild Card berth, but are behind Seattle, Texans and Cleveland.
New Phillies starter Walker Buehler is expected to make his team debut Friday.
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