December 31, 2025
Bill Streicher/Imagn Images
Nick Sirianni and the Eagles get an "A+" on their report card this year.
Ding! That's the bell. Class is over. The professor has closed the books.
The 2025 Philadelphia sports season has come to an end, and the grades are in for the Eagles, Sixers, Flyers and Phillies. It's time to deliver their report cards and see if there's any refrigerator material for this year's squads.
Not every team is judged equally. Surely, the expectations for the Eagles and Phillies were higher than they were for the rebuilding Flyers.
The Sixers? We weren't quite sure what to expect from them, but it's safe to say their disastrous second half of the 2024-25 season was only moderately helped by their offseason moves.
Let's go ahead and hand out the grades:
Aw, the teacher's pet gets the highest mark for any Philly sports team.
Has the offense resembled a dumpster fire on several occasions this year, including Sunday’s 13-12 win over the Buffalo? Sure. But this grade is for the calendar year of 2025, and in 2025, the Eagles won four playoff games – two of them very easily – including a 40-22 destruction of the Chiefs in the Super Bowl, and have won 11 of 16 games this season, which is no Super Bowl hangover.
Winning 15 of 20 games is hard in any sport, and no small feat, even if some of those wins made you a little queasy. The Eagles became the first team in more than 20 years to repeat as NFC East champions. So, although we could slightly ding them for showcasing an offense this season that has at times been, ahem, very offensive, the total 2025 picture for the Eagles is practically flawless.
It also means the Eagles will have to be extremely good and fortunate in 2026 – starting with the postseason – to simply match what this year’s Eagles have accomplished. Good luck.
The only thing saving this franchise from a full-on flunk is the drafting of VJ Edgecombe at No. 3 overall ahead of Ace Bailey, a decision that could end up being a franchise-changer if Edgecombe continues to progress at the rate he has this season.
The growth and development of the Edgecombe-Tyrese Maxey backcourt tandem has made Sixers basketball enjoyable again after their catastrophic 24-58 campaign in 2024-25 that saw Joel Embiid and big-ticket free agent Paul George combine to play just 60 games. The offseason wasn’t that much better, as George and Embiid each underwent knee surgeries that have limited them this season, and although each has shown glimpses at some points of returning to All-Star form, those moments are few and far between, leaving Nick Nurse to play lineup roulette on a game-by-game basis.
Also saving the Sixers from an F are some decent offseason moves from GM Daryl Morey, including the signings of role players Jabari Walker and Dominick Barlow. We’ll also assume that under-the-radar signing Trendon Watford will eventually pay some dividends when he returns from his adductor strain.
But the messy contract situation with Quentin Grimes that lingered for the entire offseason, along with Jared McCain’s slow comeback from a meniscus surgery and a torn UCL in his right thumb during the preseason drag down the Sixers' overall grade. If not for Edgecombe, the Sixers would have been receiving an “F” in big, red ink.
This grade is heavily weighted on the team’s decision-making and personnel moves since the beginning of the year.
The Flyers missed the playoffs for the fifth straight season and took a step back, finishing with 11 fewer points than the prior season, but … they’ve done some encouraging things since the calendar turned to Jan. 1, starting with the late-March firing of coach John Tortorella, who's strict and intense coaching style outstayed its welcome on a young team that was still a ways off from contending.
GM Danny Brière made an even better move two months later, hiring former Flyers star Rick Tocchet to replace Tortorella and, most importantly, to be more connective and relatable to a Flyers roster that, after a few more Brière additions, was finally ready to start emerging from the doldrums. Two of those newcomers, center Trevor Zegras and goalie Dan Vladar, have already exceeded expectations and have the Flyers in the mix for a postseason berth.
In June, the Flyers again nailed the assignment by picking Canadian prospect Porter Martone sixth overall in the NHL Draft. Martone, currently at Michigan State, is leading the No. 3-ranked Spartans in goals, showing his bright future that will surely help the Flyers continue to head in the right direction.
The Phillies won the NL East for the second straight season and won their most games (96) in nearly 15 years, which for some teams, might be worthy of an A, but expectations were higher.
Despite having MLB’s best starting rotation, and despite having the MLB leader in RBI and NL leader in home runs in Kyle Schwarber, and despite having the NL batting champion in Trea Turner, the Phillies were no better equipped to win the World Series this season than they were last season, when they lost to the Mets in the NLDS.
They fought hard against the Dodgers in the NLDS, but the stain of Orion Kerkering’s throwing blunder in the 11th inning of Game 4 that clinched the series for L.A. won’t soon be forgotten, and ended up being a microcosm for a season full of backfires and breakdowns.
Dave Dombrowski’s remade bullpen was spectacularly terrible until his trade deadline deal for expert closer Jhoan Duran, which only improved the overall bullpen slightly. Dombrowski’s one-year experiment with leftfielder Max Kepler also failed while other players regressed, like Nick Castellanos and Alec Bohm.
Reliever José Alvarado ended up getting suspended for 80 games and the postseason for a PED violation, and the Phillies never had a true right-handed cleanup hitter to protect both Bryce Harper and Schwarber. Then they reverted to their swing-and-miss ways in the playoffs.
A good season, for sure. But not an A.
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