Philadelphia Phillies star slugger Kyle Schwarber is scorching at the right time, and a brutally hot summer in the Northeast has nothing to do with it.
Schwarber joined the 40-home run club on Monday night, smashing two homers — including a grand slam — in a 13-3 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. The official Major League Baseball X/Twitter account posted a video of Schwarber watching his grand slam as Citizens Bank Park erupted in jubilation.
"MVP, MVP, MVP"
— MLB (@MLB) August 5, 2025
The Bank is ROCKING 🔊 pic.twitter.com/Sdq67WahQm
If not for two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani, we’d be discussing Schwarber as a legitimate MVP candidate. Not only does Schwarber lead the majors with 94 RBIs, but he’s posted a .974 OPS and a career-high 4.0 bWAR. The three-time All-Star even has an excellent opportunity to join Ryan Howard as the only Phillies with a 50-home run campaign.
It’s a great time to be Schwarber, and it’s an even better time to be a Phillies fan. However, we’re unsure if we can say the same for Dave Dombrowski and the Phillies’ front office.
Dave Dombrowski and the Phillies must give Kyle Schwarber a new contract
The best part of Schwarber’s stellar 2025 is that he’s putting up elite numbers before hitting free agency. Although Schwarber is essentially a full-time DH at this point, he’s retained his power and durability; Schwarber hasn’t played fewer than 150 games since joining the Phillies ahead of the 2022 season, and he’s well on pace to meet the mark again.
Schwarber turns 33 next March, so he’s obviously not getting an Ohtani or Juan Soto-level deal. Even if Schwarber only ‘settles’ for, say, a three-year, $120 million contract, he’s still cashing in and boosting a team’s lineup. Few around baseball should be happier about the universal DH than Schwarber, who has played 99 outfield innings the last two years.
We’ll see whether or not the Phillies opt to pay Schwarber or if they’re content to let him walk. Dombrowski and ownership might feel that they’re best suited moving on from a player who doesn’t play the field that often, especially if they want to make Bryce Harper a first baseman/DH rather than only having him play first.
However, Schwarber is such a vital part of the Phillies’ lineup that it makes no sense to part ways if he wants to return. The Phillies still have a championship window, and they’ve built a roster that should compete with the Mets for an NL East title again next year. Depending on how the Braves and Marlins respond to their respective 2025 seasons, we could see as many as four teams realistically compete for the playoffs in 2026.
Why, then, would the Phillies want to intentionally harm their chances of what might be a loaded division? Moments like Schwarber’s grand slam on Monday night should be all that the Phillies need to write a blank check — or, at least, one that’ll likely be larger than the one they envisioned on Opening Day.