August 14, 2026
Reese Strickland/IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Kyle Schwarber and the Phillies looked like themselves again out in Iowa.
Sometimes, the best thing to do is slow it down and get away.
And sometimes, if Major League Baseball now mandates it, that getaway can be to Dyersville, Iowa, if just for a day.
It may have been what the Phillies needed.
Alongside the Minnesota Twins and then followed by a row of baseball legends, the Phillies emerged from the outfield cornfield in MLB's recreation of the Field of Dreams, then, fitting the moment, delivered a vintage Philadelphia Phillies performance on Thursday night, in a place way unlike South Philly.
Kyle Schwarber crushed a leadoff home run, then got gifted another with a fortunate bounce from a fly ball that bounced off Luke Keaschall's glove and over the wall (which no one on either side could help but smile at); Bryce Harper, Trea Turner, Bryson Stott, and Luis Arráez worked counts, drew walks, and just put the ball in play to move runners around before Brandon Marsh put an exclamation point on the night with his own two-run homer late.
Then Aaron Nola, who has struggled through much of the past two years, stepped on the mound and looked like the Nola of old, chewing through five innings where he struck out nine and only allowed an early solo homer to Keaschall. The right-hander had his breaking pitches back, if just for a day, while the bullpen, thankfully, was able to manage the rest without much issue.
The Phillies beat the Twins, 7-1, briefly washing the taste away from a bitter series loss to the Cardinals, and just for a day at least, keeping their postseason outlook stable.
The Phillies and Twins make their entrances from the outfield cornfield in Dyersville, Iowa.
They're 65-58, and up half a game over the Diamondbacks (64-58) for the NL's third Wild Card spot, while trailing the Padres (65-57) by half a game for the second one.
But pushing into the middle of August, they're not safe, thanks to a ton of damage that, really, they inflicted on themselves.
Since the All-Star break, the Phillies are 11-15.
Since the All-Star break, they've played eight series, and lost six of them.
And since the All-Star break, they've fallen into that rut with an imploding bullpen, cold and unclutch bats, an entire infield shuffle that only looked ingenious for the first couple games, and until recently, a tremendous struggle to win any game not dominated by either Cristopher Sánchez, Zack Wheeler, or Jesús Luzardo.
And those problems, some of which have persisted for far too long, didn't go anywhere, and really, neither did the growing concern of whether the Phillies are even going to make it back to the playoffs – when the conversation just a month ago was genuinely about whether they could catch the Braves for the NL East lead.
With the way they were playing before Thursday night, that September schedule coming up looks like it could easily bury them if they're not careful.
But Thursday night also slowed things down for a club that probably needed it, if just for a day.
On a field built upon acres of farmland meant to evoke the memories of baseball's distant past, and pay tribute to the film that connects all of us to the emotion of them, the Philadelphia Phillies looked like the Philadelphia Phillies, or at least what they should be and were when at their best over the last several years.
Maybe it was just a brief and novel distraction.
Or maybe it slowed things down, at a point when the Phillies needed to most.
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