Phillies Have Been on Historic Roller Coaster Ride To Start Season

The 2026 MLB regular season has been a roller coaster ride for the Philadelphia Phillies that can be separated into two parts.

Act I was a tragic story, which concluded with the firing of Rob Thomson. With a 9-19 record 28 games into the season, the decision was made to move on from Thomson and replace him with Don Mattingly on an interim basis.

The Phillies were hoping history would repeat itself. When Thomson took over in 2022 from Joe Girardi, he provided a spark to an underachieving team and helped guide them to the World Series.

Act II has been much better for the Phillies. Their performance has been day and night, with the team performing at a torrid pace, going 16-4 after their victory over the Cincinnati Reds to start that three-game series.

Phillies join exclusive club with Jekyll and Hyde performance

As shared by Sarah Langs of MLB on X, this turnaround has put them in an exclusive club. This year’s Philadelphia squad is only the fifth in the last 100 years to go from 10+ games under the .500 mark to at least one game over the .500 mark in the first 47 games of a season.

The other teams are the New York Giants in 1951, St. Louis Cardinals in 1958, Florida Marlins in 1996 and Oakland Athletics in 2001. Both the Giants and Athletics made the playoffs in those years, with New York advancing to the World Series and Oakland being eliminated in the ALDS.

The Phillies accomplished the feat by completing a sweep of the Pittsburgh Pirates during Rivalry Weekend. It was the perfect cherry on top of the historic accomplishment, achieving it against reigning National League Cy Young Award winner Paul Skenes.

The Pirates phenom entered the game riding two impressive streaks of not allowing a walk or a run. They reached 39 and 20 innings, respectively, before Philadelphia was able to snap both streaks in what ended up being a 6-0 win.

The Phillies are the fifth team in the last 100 years to go from 10+ games under .500 to at least one game over .500, all within the span of the first 47 games of the season, joining:

1951 Giants
1958 Cardinals
1996 Marlins
2001 Athletics

h/t @EliasSports https://t.co/5f5E3M7LMQ
— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) May 18, 2026

Outdueling Skenes was Zack Wheeler, who has picked up right where he left off after recovering from blood clots that cut his 2025 campaign short. He and Cristopher Sanchez are a dynamic 1-2 punch atop the rotation who have helped the Phillies turn things around in such a short period of time under Mattingly.

Philadelphia has not yet lost a series with Mattingly at the helm, defeating the San Francisco Giants, Miami Marlins, Athletics, Colorado Rockies, Boston Red Sox and Pittsburgh.

Now two games over .500 after beating the Reds, they are one more win away from making it seven consecutive series victories.

Sign up for our free newsletter to receive the latest news and updates on the Phillies!

Add us as a preferred source on Google