October 06, 2025
Bill Streicher/Imagn Images
The Phillies need Kyle Schwarber hitting if they're going to make it through October.
The Phillies' 5-3 loss to the Dodgers in Game 1 of the NLDS on Saturday night was frustrating, not just because they let it slip away again, but because fans have seen it all before, too.
They patched together some early offense, but didn't build on it. They leaned on their starting pitching to hold the line, for as long as it could, but when cracks started to show, they rolled the dice on their bullpen and lost.
All the while, their stars couldn't get solid contact at the plate.
That's how Game 1 of the NLDS last year against the Mets melted down. Kyle Schwarber hit a lead-off bomb to get the Phillies immediately on the board, but then they could only muster just four hits after as they clung to the idea of Zack Wheeler dragging them to a 1-0 shutout win.
But they had to pull him after seven innings. Jeff Hoffman and Matt Strahm got tagged, and Game 1 and eventually the best-of-five series got away from the Phillies, starting with that 6-2 loss.
A year later, they brought themselves to the same place. An Alec Bohm walk, a Brandon Marsh single, a J.T. Realmuto triple that slowrolled to the right-center warning track, and a Harrison Bader sac fly generated the night's first three – crucial – runs against two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani, but then they just left it at that.
They tried to get by on Cristopher Sánchez, the new No. 1 in place of Wheeler, keeping the Dodgers shut down. He was pulling it off, too, until he needed that last out in the sixth, which led to L.A. narrowing the lead down to one. They went to the bullpen again. David Robertson couldn't get an out in the seventh and put two on, and Strahm couldn't escape the jam trying to salvage the situation, instead watching Teoscar Hernández send his 1-0 fastball into the right-field seats.
The Phillies were down from there, and couldn't recover. Just five hits on the night weren't going to allow them to. Moreover, their big bats at the top going cold was also always going to restrain them.
Ohtani recovered and settled into a rhythm after allowing those first few runs, but at the same time, the first half of the Phillies' lineup didn't give him much of a hard time in the six innings he went on to pitch through.
Nor did they give L.A.'s Tyler Glasnow, Alex Vesia, or Roki Sasaki much to worry about in relief, with only two hits over Saturday night's last three innings.
Trea Turner drew a walk, but went 0-for-3 with a strikeout leading off; Bryce Harper managed a single in the eighth, but was 0-for-3 before that with some mighty swings, though ultimately two strikeouts; And Kyle Schwarber, the MVP-level power bat who felt like a home run waiting to happen all summer, 0-for-4 with three Ks.
They can't win like that.
Their starting pitching has been excellent all season, but they can't use it as a crutch against a lineup like the Dodgers' that can tag you at any time. Their bullpen did get better, too, but as Saturday night showed, not enough to where you can breathe easy watching if they have to reach in with the middle innings.
As for their lineup, Realmuto said ahead of the series' start that this might be the deepest Phillies team he's been a part of, and he might be right.
But none of it works if Turner, Harper, and Schwarber aren't doing any damage at the top and posing an ever-dangerous threat.
It's their team. The Phillies don't win without them. That was true last October against the Mets, every postseason prior, well ahead of Saturday night's loss, and now even more so that they're in another 1-0 hole and against a powerhouse of a defending champion.
They need those guys to turn it on. They won't last long otherwise if they don't.
Game 2 Monday night is their shot, maybe not their only, but it sure feels like it.
"It's just one game," Schwarber said from the clubhouse after Saturday night's loss. "It's the postseason. This isn't about personal, this is about the whole team, and now it's whenever we come in for Monday, you're back to grinding and feeling like you're gonna put competitive at-bats in for the team."
"It's just like everything else," the slugger added. "We're gonna be attacking head-on."
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