Phillies Surprisingly Not Seen as Biggest Disappointment So Far This Season

The Philadelphia Phillies have not played well, but they surprisingly aren't considered the biggest disappointment this season.

Apr 23, 2026; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Philadelphia Phillies manager Rob Thomson (49) makes a pitching change against the Chicago Cubs during the sixth inning at Wrigley Field. | David Banks-Imagn Images

The Philadelphia Phillies will be heading into a new week hoping that a needed day off will help them turn things around from what has been a horrible start to the season. 

So far this year, the Phillies are off to a terrible start, and things are showing no signs of turning around any time soon. Last week, the Phillies went 1-6 against the Chicago Cubs and the Atlanta Braves. In a four-game series against the Cubs, they were swept in a fairly embarrassing fashion. 

Before getting a victory against the Braves on Saturday, the team was on a 10-game losing streak, and they had seen their season slip away quickly. Even though it is early, there are a ton of concerns about the direction of the team for this campaign based on the start. 

Mark Feinsand of MLB recently polled 20 executives about who the biggest disappointment in baseball is this season. Surprisingly, it wasn’t the Phillies so far, but rather the New York Mets and Boston Red Sox coming in ahead of them. 

Philadelphia Has Strong Case for Biggest Disappointment

New York Mets right fielder Carson Benge | Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

With all three of these teams expected to be playoff contenders, there is undoubtedly a case to be made for all of them being a disappointment. When looking at the Red Sox, they currently have a better record than the Mets and Phillies, but they recently fired their coach, Alex Cora. That decision was a bit of a shocker so early in the season, but Boston felt like it was time to move on. 

For the Mets and the Phillies, that’s where it seems like the true battle lies between the most disappointing teams this season. Through 28 games, the two teams are nearly mirror images of each other with a 9-19 record overall. Furthermore, each is 5-10 at home this season and 4-9 on the road. It is certainly an odd coincidence to see them with identical records. 

However, when looking at which team might be worse or more of a disappointment, the Phillies do have the worst run differential by far. Currently, they are at -54 compared to -30 for the Mets. While both of those numbers are really poor, it is Philadelphia that is the worst in the league. 

While both have been massive disappointments based on the preseason expectations, the Phillies have arguably been more of one, considering their underlying struggles with the same record as New York.