July 13, 2025
Denis Poroy/Imagn Images
Phillies lefthander Cristopher Sánchez, who sure did look like an All-Star on Sunday in San Diego.
The Philadelphia Phillies are a good ball club, yet are maybe the most polarizing that this era of the team has ever been.
They're going into the All-Star break with a 55-41 record, which has them just a bit ahead of the Mets in the NL East standings.
But they're also heading into the All-Star break having lost two of three to the Padres out in San Diego, which coupled with the series loss to the Giants over in the Bay prior, continues to lay their greatest strengths, and their long persisting weaknesses, bare.
Their starting pitching is elite, and at the minimum, gives them a chance from game to game.
The rest, though? It falls on varying levels suspect.
Ranger Suárez, despite getting charged for three runs (only one earned), gave them one in the series opener on Friday night, through 6.2 innings and what was a one-run game. And he wanted to stay in to get that last out with runners at the corners to complete a full seven, but Tanner Banks got the call from the pen and cleaned up quickly with a Luis Arráez groundout to hold the line.
It's just that the Phillies' bats didn't take advantage. They had the bases loaded with only one out in the very next frame, but Nick Castellanos grounded into a force out on a throw straight to home, and Max Kepler popped out to short to let the Padres escape the jam. The Phils went on to lose, 4-2.
Zack Wheeler had a rare off start for his turn against the Padres on Saturday.
David Frerker/Imagn Images
Zack Wheeler, even with a rare off night in Game 2 on Saturday, turned in an outing that was salvageable. The ace got knocked for two Jackson Merrill homers and four runs in total (all earned), but still pushed through six innings and 105 pitches in a tie game. And again, the Phillies' bats had their setups to pull away, but didn't.
With Bryce Harper at second and Trea Turner at third with two outs in the seventh, Edmundo Sosa grounded out to let San Diego off the hook. Then the ball got handed back to Banks and then Jordan Romano in relief for the bottom of the frame.
Banks gave up consecutive singles to Fernando Tatís Jr. and Arráez to put runners at the corners, then Manny Machado sailed a sac fly to right off Romano with only one out to bring the go-ahead run home for a 5-4 lead. The Phillies couldn't overcome that. They put together another shot in the eighth off J.T. Realmuto and Otto Kemp singles to put their own runners at the corners with two outs, but Brandon Marsh followed that with a pop out in two pitches. They lost, 5-4.
Finally, Cristopher Sánchez, even though he's not an All-Star, continued to pitch like one in the series finale on Sunday. He fought through an immediate bases-loaded jam in the first, and cleared through five scoreless innings until the Padres finally made a dent in the sixth with a Jose Iglesias RBI single that tied the game at one.
It took a Realmuto double to knock home Harper in the eighth, and Orion Kerkering and Matt Strahm hanging on across the last two innings in relief to break the stalemate and get the Phils out with a win, 2-1 – and with Sánchez putting in a final line of six hits, one earned run, three walks, and six strikeouts through 7.1 innings pithced in a victory that improved him to 8-2.
J.T. Realmuto drives in the winning run for the Phillies with an eighth-inning double in Sunday's series finale against the Padres.
Denis Poroy/Imagn Images
So here they are, with an unreal rotation, a thin and combustible bullpen, and hot and cold hitting that will either erupt for runs or ground right into momentum-killing double plays.
As is, the first third of that equation is looking good enough to at least get the Phillies back to October, as covered before. But if the World Series is the goal, the other two parts aren't going to get them there, not without an upgrade, and they have just over two weeks until the July 31 trade deadline to figure something out.
They need another bat for the outfield. Castellanos has his spot in right, but any combo of Marsh, Johan Rojas, and/or Max Kepler has been largely ineffective, to the point where Otto Kemp is getting looks in left field, as he did in Sunday's finale going into the break.
And they need bullpen arms, high-leverage ones, because at this point, it's clear that sending someone like Romano in late and with slim margin for error is a disaster waiting to happen – see Tuesday night's inside-the-park implosion in San Francisco.
Plus, help might not be coming from within as many originally expected either, or not where it's truly needed.
How will Aaron Nola fit back into the Phillies' plans when he returns from injury?
Kyle Ross/Imagn Images
Aaron Nola appears to be making progress in the rehab back from his rib injury (he threw a bullpen in Clearwater this week, per Phillies Nation's Destiny Lugardo), but the veteran righthander's stuff is best served as a starter.
Then down in the minors, top pitching prospect Andrew Painter seems to have hit a wall in Triple-A, having surrendered five homers and 12 earned runs across his last three starts, leaving room for a possibility now where maybe the 22-year-old doesn't make it up by the end of the month.
Outfield prospect Justin Crawford is also there in Allentown with a .331 batting average, but is the 21-year-old's approach at the plate mature enough to present an improvement for an everyday MLB outfield spot, or in another avenue, does he become a future chip for a potential win-now move over the next couple of weeks?
It's the All-Star break, and it should be a time in the baseball calendar to breathe easy for a second. But instead, it feels like a crossroads for the Phillies, with decisions looming that will paint how serious of a contender they really are.
Because they're a good ball club, but the most polarizing they've ever been since their 2022 breakout, too.
They're good enough to get back to the postseason with their starting pitching as strong as it is, but their offense isn't consistent enough, nor their bullpen dependable enough to get them any further, not without some kind of clear upgrade.
They have just over two weeks to figure it out.
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