Phillies Must Find Answer for Major Weakness Exposed by Nationals on Opening Day

The Philadelphia Phillies should not wait too long to address a weakness the Washington Nationals exposed on Opening Day.

Mar 27, 2025; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Philadelphia Phillies first base Bryce Harper (3) hits a home run during the seventh inning against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park. | Reggie Hildred-Imagn Images

The Philadelphia Phillies were surprisingly quiet this offseason when it came to making moves to shake up their roster.

Coming off a 95-win campaign and National League East title, it does make some sense to bring back a majority of the core; they proved they can find success over the marathon regular season.

However, for the second straight year, the team fell woefully short in the postseason. The New York Mets eliminated them in the NLDS in four games as nothing went right when facing off against their divisional rivals.

Another playoff letdown is why many people thought Dave Dombrowski would seek some changes to the team, but nothing major was done, especially with the lineup.

A single Major League addition was made, signing outfielder Max Kepler to a one-year, $10 million deal.

It was a solid investment for a player who has talent but has been unable to stay healthy throughout his career. When on the field, he is capable of producing some solid numbers; staying on the field has been a challenge.

Using him as the starting left fielder, a position he has never played professionally, is incredibly risky as well. Their outfield defense could be amongst the worst in baseball with Brandon Marsh in center and Nick Castellanos in right field.

That is certainly a concern, but another obstacle to overcome is how left-handed heavy their lineup is with Kepler.

He, Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, Bryson Stott and Marsh are all left-handed hitters. Off the bench, Kody Clemens is left-handed as well and catcher Rafael Marchan is a switch hitter.

The biggest regret of the offseason was not bringing in another right-handed bat and it didn’t take long for that to prove costly.

On Opening Day against the Washington Nationals, the Phillies faced off with their ace, MacKenzie Gore, a left-handed pitcher.

He mowed down their lineup in historic fashion.

Across six shutout innings, he allowed only one hit to go along with 13 strikeouts. Philadelphia was struggling to make any contact and when they did, it was all on the ground as not a single ball was hit in the air off of him.

Despite his dominant outing, the Phillies were able to come away with a 7-3 victory in 10 innings as they found their footing once Gore was removed from the game.

This will be something to keep an eye on as the season goes on, as facing left-handed pitching seems to be a legitimate concern for the team.

Shaking up a roster early on is rare, but Dombrowski might need to get on the phone and start shopping for a right-handed hitter early to address a weakness that has been exposed.