The frustration of Philadelphia sports fans is, as always, well documented. These people are never happy. At best, there's a blend of complex emotions with happiness mixed in and likely paired with a sense of impending doom. In the case of the Phillies, these fans may have a point. The Phillies have lost five of their last six home playoff games at Citizens Bank Park despite it being considered one of the best homefield advantages in MLB. On Monday night, the Phillies fell to the Dodgers in Game 2, and now face elimination on the road in Los Angeles. Heck, hitting the road might actually do the Phillies some favors.
The drama between Nick Castellanos and Phillies fans has been discussed ad nauseam at this point. Castellanos didn't appreciate Phillies fans booing his teammates, which included Kyle Schwarber and even Bryce Harper. What Castellanos fails to understand is that booing is Philadelphia's love language. To make matters worse, Castellanos insinuated that this booing was hurting the team on the field.
“When everything’s going good and you’re rolling it’s a [pain] to play here when you’re an opposing team because the environment is amazing,” Castellanos said. “But if we run into adversity and the tide shifts and now we’re playing more tight because we don’t want to be reprimanded for something bad.”
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Fans and media alike are turning on the Phillies and Kyle Schwarber
If Phillies fans hadn't turned on this team prior to Castellanos' comments, they sure did thereafter. Now, even the media is at their throats. The Philadelphia Inquirer's Wednesday column, written by Marcus Hayes, absolutely roasted Schwarber.
As Hayes pointed out, Schwarber is 0-for-18 in his last five playoff games, and 0-for-21 in his last five games of the 2025 season. He's been dreadful, despite being known as one of the more clutch postseason performers in recent MLB history. Schwarber is a free agent at the end of this season, and at this point, Hayes and those like him are wondering aloud if they should try to bring him back at all.
"Schwarber is just 3-for-28 in his last eight playoff games. Two of those hits, and his only home run, came in the same contest, Game 1 of the NLDS last season against the Mets. In the other seven games he’s 1-for-26 with no home runs and 13 strikeouts," Hayes wrote. "You know what else happened in those games? The Phillies lost Games 6 and 7 of the 2023 NLDS to the Diamondbacks, lost three of four in the 2024 NLDS against the Mets, and lost the first two games of this NLDS to the Dodgers."
Hayes added that Schwarber had one of the best walk years in Phillies history, but the way things are going, he may not be welcomed back by the fanbase. As for Schwarber himself, he has insisted he is not trying to be a hero every at-bat, but that he's seeing less pitches to hit. In his mind, as Hayes puts it, 'he's making acceptable swings at tough pitches'.
Will Kyle Schwarber leave the Phillies in free agency?
It's a silly prognosis, but the vibes are not high in Philadelphia right now. Assuming Schwarber doesn't turn his postseason around – along with the team itself – he'll have a tough decision to make this winter. Of course, that decision was always going to be an impossible one. This could be Schwarber's last real chance to cash in, and as he's shown in the past, he isn't afraid to change locations.
Dave Dombrowski, should he choose, certainly has the backing of Phillies ownership to make Schwarber an offer he can't refuse. That would be a much easier sell if the Phillies actually won a postseason series, or if Schwarber were playing well against the Dodgers. There's a good chance neither of those things happens this October, which will make Schwarber's choice all the more difficult.