
June 22, 2025
The Phillies and Mets will probably take it to the wire this summer and fall as they fight for the NL East title.
It might be tight in the standings, but it wasn't this weekend at Citizens Bank Park.
Entering a three-game set, the two teams were tied for the division lead. The Phillies took two of three, in a trio of lopsided affairs to pull ahead by a game in the division race. The Phillies won by eight on Friday, lost by seven on Saturday, and won by six on Sunday.
A day off awaits before the Phillies head to Houston and Atlanta to face the Astros and Braves next week. Here's a look at some winners and losers from the NL East leaders after their latest series win — their 17th in 25 total sets this season (tied for their most ever to start a season):
Phils in the standings
The one game lead is great, but with more than 80 games left this season, that could ebb and flow quite a bit. But the two wins against the Mets this weekend were extremely important on the tiebreaker front, as they now trail New York in the season series 4-2.Â
If these two teams wind up tied come October, there is no more one-game playoff for ties in the standings. The team with the most head-to-head wins would be the NL East champions. The Phillies were sept in Queens in April. There are seven more games to go, all of them coming in August and September. Thanks to them making up some ground, they will need to take five of those games down the stretch.Â
Jesús Luzardo
It's been a roller coaster for the Phillies trade offseason acquisition, who spent the greater part of the spring looking like an ace before an unparalleled implosion in back-to-back games to start the month of June.
He looked like an All-Star again Sunday, keeping the Mets off balance over 6.2 innings of three-hit baseball. He even tossed 107 pitches in the dominating outing. Here's a look at his season so far:
Starts | Stats |
 First 11 starts | 67 IP, 2.15 ERA |
May 31 & June 6Â | 5.2 IP, 31.76 ERA |
Last 3 starts | 17.2 IP, 2.50 ERA |
Luzardo tossed six one-run frames post-blow up before allowing four runs in his start prior to Sunday. Then on Sunday he was excellent. The Phillies are hoping the real Luzardo is the one who showed up against the Mets.
Nick Castellanos
A small dose of mid-season controversy came last week in Miami, when Castellanos'Â 236Â consecutive games started streak ended. Phillies' manager Rob Thomson benched him following some disrespectful choice words the right fielder had for his skipper after being lifted for a defensive replacement.
Amid debates over Casty's defensive value, his offense continues to keep him in the lineup every day. In the series opener, Castellanos went 3-for-5 with three RBI and a homer. He added an RBI-double Saturday and had two doubles and an RBI Sunday. He's second on the team in RBI so far this season (behind Kyle Schwarber).
Edmundo Sosa
We're going to dig a little into Sosa at the end of this story for a screw up he made Sunday, but he more than made up for it with this three-run bomb to break things open and boost the Phillies comfortably ahead (and in control of the NL East for the time being):
Edmundo Sosa knew he got ALL of that ball
— MLB (@MLB) June 23, 2025
It's a 5-run inning for the @Phillies on #SundayNightBaseball! pic.twitter.com/VGQhV3oRXe
Taijuan Walker (and the rest of the bullpen)
The Phillies won Game 1 of this series in spite of their starter-turned-reliever Taijuan Walker, who blew Zack Wheeler's lead by surrendering two homers and retiring just one batter in the sixth. Luckily the rest of the pen held on and the offense unleashed 10 runs in the victory.Â
Then on Saturday night, a short stint for Mick Abel brought in a parade of five relievers, who combined to allow seven runs as they failed miserably to keep the Phillies in the game.
The bullpen carried its weight in the finale, allowing just one solo homer, but the inconstancy is unacceptable and the front office is expected to be aggressive in upgrading the relief corps over the next few weeks.Â
Citizens Bank Park, a hitter's ballpark
Over this iteration of contending Phillies baseball, the Phillies have failed to consistently field a lineup with elite power despite playing in one of the more hitter-friendly ballparks in the game. The their homer total through 79 games is just 83 — tied for 13th of 30 MLB teams and nearly 40 fewer than the leading power squad, the Dodgers.Â
In their three-game set against New York, the Phillies pitching staff surrendered 10 home runs — including a ridiculous seven of them Saturday — while hitting four of their own. Philly's 85 home runs relented is a total higher than their output. For some context, last season the Phillies hit 198, the sixth most longballs in the majors, and gave up 181 (a plus-17 total).
Thomson continues to preach that he expects the power to pick up over the warmer months. They'll need that extra pop to stay neck-and-neck with the top teams in the National League.
The lineup
Baseball isn't the kind of sport — over 162 games (plus spring training and the postseason) — that allows for the same lineup for an entire season. Whether it's injuries, matchup decisions, slumps or other transactions, managers are forced to constantly tinker with their batting order and defensive machinations.Â
However, Sunday's finale was — at least on paper — one of the weakest lineups the team has totted out in a while. Four players who were not in the lineup on opening day three months ago got the nod against the Mets:
Opening Day | June 22 |
Trea Turner, SS | Trea Turner, SS |
Bryce Harper, 1B | Kyle Schwarber, DH |
Alec Bohm, 3B | Alec Bohm, 3B |
Kyle Schwarber, DH | Nick Castellanos, RF |
J.T. Realmuto, C | J.T. Realmuto, C |
Max Kepler, LF | Otto Kemp, LF |
Nick Castellanos, RF | Â Edmundo Sosa, 2B |
Bryson Stott, 2B | Buddy Kennedy, 1B |
 Brandon Marsh, CF | Johan Rojas, CF |
It was a relatively drastic change, with Bryce Harper still nursing a wrist injury, and Thomson sitting out three lefties (Kepler, Stott, Marsh) he doesn't trust to perform against left-handed pitching (the Mets' David Peterson). Harper is expected to be swinging a bat again this coming week if all goes well.
Base-running blunders
It feels like at least once every series the Phillies suffer from a base-running malady. Sometimes it's an ill-advised steal attempt. Other times it's a player trying to take an extra base that might not be wise or necessary.
With a team like Philadelphia, that gets on base a ton, it's okay to be aggressive — and getting called out on the base paths occasionally is the cost of doing business. But Sosa getting picked off at second with two men on and no one out in the third inning Sunday was one of the worst of the year. Johan Rojas bailed on his bunt attempt and grounded into a fielder's choice before Trea Turner struck out keeping Philly off the board. Unforced errors could the the death of an ultra-talented team like the Phillies. Luckily it didn't cost them the game.
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