The Phillies had the opportunity to send a message, and arguably, they did as they suffered an abysmal sweep in Queens that raises legitimate concerns about the outlook of the 2025 season
The Phillies would open this series as if the NLDS had never ended. It would continue all of the pain and suffering the Phillies displayed at Citi Field last October. Aaron Nola would not look great, but he would meander his way through 6.1 innings while striking out six and allowing 2 runs. He would yield the game to José Ruiz with two runners on, who would give up a three-run bomb. Nola would be credited with four runs as his struggles continued, but like every other one of his starts, it wouldn’t matter as the team continued to not score for him. Until the ninth, the Phillies had only scored two runs over their previous seventeen innings. They looked lethargic, and it appeared as though they did not want to be there. They made Tylor Megill look like a Cy Young candidate as they would strikeout ten times over Megill’s 5.1 innings. There would, however, finally be some signs of life in the ninth. The bottom of the order would start to chip away at Max Kranick. Max Kepler would lead the inning off with a double and was promptly driven in by a JT Realmuto single to make it 5-1. Alex Bohm would single too, as then finally the Mets would feel warranted to make the call for Edwin Díaz. He would make short work of Cal Stevenson, but then Bryson Stott, who has torched Díaz in his career, would come to the plate and launch a three-run bomb to bring the Phillies within one at 5-4. Stott appears to be on the verge of finally having that breakout season we all hoped for, and has thrived in the leadoff role ever since moving there. So with one out, a frazzled closer, and a one-run game with the heart of the order coming up, the Phillies had the chance to make some memories versus the Mets. However, Trea Turner and Bryce Harper would make sure that didn’t happen. Turner would have a signature at bat in which he would go down swinging on nothing close to the zone, and Harper, after going down 0-1, would swing through a meatball, before swinging at a pitch that landed ten feet in front of the plate for strike three to end the game. The Mets would take game one.
Game two would feel like the same nightmare all over again, with the added special edition that Phillies ace Cristopher Sánchez would severely struggle, throw 60 pitches through two innings, allow two runs, and leave the game with an apparent injury. Those two runs would be all the Mets needed as the Phillies would muster up eight hits, seven of which were singles, over these nine innings and score only one run. While it only felt like a blowout, the game finally got out of hand in the seventh inning when a Tanner Banks throwing error put runners in scoring position, and by the end of the inning, the Mets, being an actual good team, took advantage and were up 5-1. That would be all the Mets needed, and the Mets won game two.
Now, you would think, especially with an off day upcoming, that the Phillies will come out with some sort of jam. Some sort of energy game three of this series, where they would feel that they had to win at least this game. Well, Zach Wheeler felt that way, but unfortunately, the rest of the team did not again. Wheeler would go six while striking out nine, with his only real blemish being a two-run bomb to eight-hole hitter Brett Baty. The Phillies would scrape together some offense, though, as in the 4th inning Johan Rojas would get the scoring going with an RBI single that scored Edmundo Sosa, and later in the inning Trea Turner would knock in the returning Weston Wilson to make it even at 2-2. Neither team would make any noise other than a bang-bang play in the eighth that saw Nick Castellanos get called out at home on a nice throw from Juan Soto on a sacrifice fly. The Phillies would get two brilliant innings from José Alvarado in the eighth and the ninth, so we would get extra-inning baseball. Nick Castellanos would drive home ghost runner Bryce Harper to give the Phillies the 3-2 lead, but for the second time in the game, the Phillies would have the bases loaded with one out and come away with nothing. In the bottom of the 10th, the Phillies would hand the ball to Jordan Romano, who would manage to lower his ERA while blowing and losing the game for the Phillies. The Mets had swept the Phillies out of Queens
This series was about as bad as you can get. Any type of highlight or positive note you can pull from the series will be smothered by misplays, underperformances, and dramatic disappointment. Throughout a baseball season, you must not get too high or too low. It is only April 24th, and some may argue that we’re still 3 to 4 months away from meaningful baseball. Even when it comes to the Phillies, the teams in 2022 and 2023 were a largely mediocre team until it mattered. However, this group is completely inept in a way we might not have seen before. This offense is entering year four of ineptitude. The consistent uncompetitive at-bats, the inability to work station to station, and the complete repeated failure with runners in scoring position help put this team in the position they are in. This offensive group is not good enough to win a championship, and almost every evening is an embarrassing display of how not to approach plate appearances in Major League Baseball. There are some positives, as Bryson Stott has looked great, and they’ve gotten nice contributions from Edmundo Sosa, Max Kepler, and Johan Rojas. Even Alec Bohm seems to have turned the corner and is returning to his norm. The ineptitude, for the most part, actually falls on the stars. While Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos started hot, they’ve done their usual, which is to say they were hot for two weeks and are now ice cold and will continue to do that throughout the season. JT Realmuto is just passed his prime and is on the decline, however, he does get some grace as he is still a great catcher. The biggest ineptitude right now falls on their two highest-paid players: Bryce Harper and Trea Turner. These two have been bad. Trea specifically has been terrible all year while also being a terrible shortstop. With every passing day, his contract looks worse and worse, and his inability to adjust and swing at the same mistakes over and over kills this team on a near-nightly basis. When it comes to Harper? The Phillies’ first baseman will escape criticism for the most part. He has done a lot for this team, and we know how hard he plays, but that doesn’t change the fact that since the end of last season, Bryce has looked lost, unfocused, and seemingly lost his competitive edge. His at-bats in this series were almost all abysmal. Bryce would have one hit, a single, in this series against the Mets, but would strike out four times. Bryce is the engine of this team, and when he’s playing undisciplined and checked out baseball, the rest of the team will follow. As the best player on the team, it is fair to level the most criticism on him when he is underperforming in the same way that guys like Jalen Hurts and Joel Embiid receive it when their teams don’t perform the way we want them to.
Even if the offense were to fix itself, the bullpen would surely blow it. Dave Dombrowski and the front office set this bullpen up for failure this past offseason. Even if Jordan Romano worked out, they would’ve still been at least one, if not two, arms short. However, Romano is terrible, and José Ruiz is not a big league pitcher. Speaking of which, Carlos Hernández and Joe Ross are also not big league pitchers, so here is a Phillies team needing four or more relievers, and it’s only April. Now things could just start to fall in place. Last April, they had one of the worst bullpen ERAs in the league, which was then followed in May and the months moving forward with one of the best. That doesn’t forgive the fact that this group makes close games blowouts and, outside of its top three pieces, is incapable of maintaining leads. This team is very quickly on the path of running José Alvarado into the ground by August. He has been tremendous so far this year, and God only knows what this pen would look like if he were bad or if they didn’t have him, but they will run him into the ground before the meaningful games begin if they are not careful. This group needs help.
So what’s next? Well, immediately is what should be a much-needed off day, and then a three-game series at Wrigley Field against a pretty good Chicago Cubs team. There is still plenty of time for this team to right the ship. In a way, maybe showing their very clear weaknesses this early forces the hand of the front office. We are reaching the point where you may need to start pressing buttons that you have never pressed before. Whether that be trading a beloved player, sending someone down, bringing up an influx of young guys, or some combination of all of those things, the Phillies are going to need to do something soon. Despite the problems, this team is also capable of much better than they are currently showing. The biggest positive, though, is their starting pitching. That group is legitimately great and will only get stronger and Ranger’s return and Andrew Painter’s debut. Only time will tell where this team ends up, but at this moment, this team is certainly not a title contender, and might not even be a playoff contender.