Searching for Silver Linings Amid the Phillies’ Disastrous Opening Month

Philadelphia is 9–19 and 10 1/2 games out of first place already amid a swath of dreadful slow starts from players who should be doing better.

Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber will need some help turning the Phillies around. | Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

Sometimes claiming that the sky is falling turns out to be a bit premature, especially in sports. And even more especially in baseball when a six-month marathon season allows for a tremendous amount of possibilities. All 30 MLB teams will have highs and lows, then have them again, and one red-hot month is usually enough to get all but the worst teams back into some sort of contention. But sometimes it's clear when there are huge problems just six games into the season and saying it's time to panic gets vindicated by an organization like the Red Sox cleaning house.

The story so far in Philadelphia has been equally shaky. After snapping a 10-game losing streak with a victory over the Braves on Saturday, the Phillies once again found themselves on the wrong side of a 6-2 decision on Sunday. Currently tied for the bottom spot in the National League East with the Mets at 9-19, manager Rob Thomson has quite a job on hands. The Braves have already racked up 20 wins and sit 10 1/2 games ahead in the standings from both of their cellar-dwelling rivals. There is already some speculation that Thomson might not be around to see that comeback project to completion should things continue to go poorly.

Last week we looked at some of the reasons for Philadelphia's poor start. They have gone 1-5 since that and it's safe to say not a single issue has been resolved. The Phillies are getting blown out in far too many games. They cannot win on home turf and have a middling offense. Starting pitching has been more than spotty and nothing is being done around the margins to overcome all these deficiencies.

To be clear, there are real reasons for concern. But there are also some silver linings. Or at least some belief that it cannot possibly stay this dark.

Phillies manager Rob Thomson is under pressure to right the ship. | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Between the Red Sox, Mets and Phillies, my unscientific guess is that Philadelphia remains the best bet to make the playoffs. That could prove very wrong. All three still could pull that off and all three could be watching from home come October.

Yet here's why such a turnaround could happen and perhaps only in Philly. Boston is amid organizational chaos right now and it looks as though several of their young players are in free-fall offensively. Whereas the same can be said for the Phillies, Thomson's unit broadly has a longer track record of producing at a high level—including down the stretch run of a season when it matters. The Mets' bats are incredibly cold as well with Juan Soto unavailable but, again, there's something to be said for the postseason experience in Philadelphia compared to the patchwork quilt of New York bats lacking shared fabric.

Kyle Schwarber is hitting .196 on the year, which is made okay by his prolific power and ability to walk. Bryce Harper has a solid .845 OPS that figures to heat up with the temperature. Outside of those two, though, it's quite bleak on the lineup card and stat sheet. Perhaps foolishly, that's the very reason I think the Phillies might be okay.

Trea Turner finished fifth in National League MVP voting last season. He will not continue to carry an OPS nearly 160 points lower than his career average all summer. Right?

Alec Bohm, a former All-Star, has a WAR of -0.6 already. The back of his baseball card would look pretty darn bleak if sent to the printers with a .412 OPS. We're talking about a guy who had 44 doubles and 97 RBI two years ago. He cannot have suddenly lost all his talent.

Bryson Stott and J.T. Realmuto simply have to improve on three extra-base hits each at this point. You go up and down the roster and it just feels as though the widespread struggles aren't sustainable.

Aaron Nola is a better pitcher than he's shown through six starts this season. At 1-3 with a 6.03 ERA he's a far cry what he's been. Now, there is some concern coming off a pretty disappointing '25 campaign that this is the new reality but being at full health should soon star to show a return. Philly will move on from a fruitless Taijuan Walker experiment going forward and that can be addition by subtraction.

Okay, if it's beginning to sound as though there's some serious grasping at straws going on, that's fair. The point is that off the three major disappointments at this stage of the season, the one in Philadelphia might be the most salvagable.

And again, that is certainly not the type of consolation prize any franchise with big and realistic dreams for the year would be interested in receiving right now.

The conversation around Thomson will be interesting going forward. Team president Dave Dombrowski pushed away speculation last week when asked a potential change. The sudden availability of Alex Cora, who teamed up with Dombrowski in Boston, might change the calculus. Especially if things get worse in Philly. And any worse is going to mean it's really time to panic.

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