Philadelphia Is Built to Win Now — But Windows Don’t Stay Open Forever

The Phillies entered 2025 as legitimate contenders — and largely performed like one. They finished near to top of the league in nearly every offensive category: average (2nd), hits (2nd), total bases (4th) OPS (4th) etc. With a stacked lineup, led by MVP runner-up Kyle Schwarber, it’s no surprise that the Phillies slugged their way to winning the NL East by a resounding 13 games.

Pitching remained strong posting a National League-best 3.53 starters ERA, but a down season by Aaron Nola who missed two months in the summer with a rib injury, and went 5-10 with a 6.01 ERA when he was healthy, forced other guys to step up, with Jesus Luzardo and Cristopher Sanchez opening eyes across the league, with the latter showing true ace potential.

Philadelphia added reinforcements in some key areas, including bringing back Schwarber on a 5-year deal, when I thought for sure he was destined to end up with his hometown Cincinnati Reds. They also bolstered their outfield by adding Adolis Garcia.

Biggest Need Entering 2026:
Offensive consistency against elite pitching. The Phillies are hoping that bringing in Garcia will help that, since he posted a .323 postseason average en route to a World Series title with the Texas Rangers in 2023. Will that be enough?

The Phillies’ main problem in my opinion is their age. They enter 2026 as one of the older teams in the league, with most of their impact players sitting in their mid-thirties, with injuries histories that are only getting longer. Re-signing Schwarber and Realmuto, as well as bringing in Garcia, certainly doesn’t help them get any younger.

Have They Addressed It?
Again, bringing back Schwarber and Realmuto certainly help, and Garcia will bring up the power numbers for sure, since he’s mainly replacing Harisson Bader, but nothing to get too excited about.

Our Take:
The Phillies still feel dangerous — of course they do. Easy to say when you effectively win your division by two weeks. It’s hard to say the Phillies got BETTER in 2026, but then again, it’s hard to get better than 96 wins. Losing Matt Strahm and Jordan Romano out of the bullpen and replacing them with Zach Pop and Brad Keller (among others) feels like a net negative, and losing Ranger Suarez to the Red Sox without having an immediate plan to replace him feels like a miss at this point. They need to address that. They may feel confident enough in their top pitching prospect, Andrew Painter (#28 in MLB’s Top 100) to let it ride on him at the back end of that rotation. At 6’7″ and 215 lbs., I look forward to seeing what Painter’s got, but that a lot to put on the shoulders of a 22-year-old who has yet to see a big league mound. The good news is, he’s got Nola, Wheeler and Sanchez to carry the load in front of him, and Realmuto behind the plate to guide him through his rookie campaign.

The Phillies will be fine, and I view them as the safe pick to bring home their 3rd straight NL East crown in 2026.