The Philadelphia Phillies are back to break our hearts.
With Opening Day right around the corner, expectations are once again sky-high in the City of Brotherly Love. Few teams have been more consistently competitive in recent years, but the Phils are still looking to get over the World Series hump.
It won't get easier this season. The National League gauntlet is substantially more rigorous, with LA stockpiling talent like the rich kid in third grade stockpiles rare Bakugan. Corbin Burnes went to Arizona, the Braves are healthy (for now), and yeah, Juan Soto is a Met. The Phillies' path has seldom been murkier, even if there's more than enough talent on the roster to merit World Series aspirations.
We should also mention the age factor. Bryce Harper, Trea Turner, Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Kyle Schwarber, Nick Castellanos — they're all on the wrong side of 30. While none figure to completely bottom out this season, experience is a fickle friend in baseball. The timelines and windows of opportunity for aging stars are never very clear in advance. The Phils will only get so many bites at the apple with this core.
Dave Dombrowski failed to engineer the true spectacle-inducing blockbuster addition fans hoped for this winter, but the Phillies are still in a good position. Better yet, the early returns from spring training hint at a notable area of growth for Philadelphia — one that is far more important than anyone they could've realistically signed or traded for in the offseason.
Folks, the Phillies are finally... taking walks.
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Phillies' plate discipline in spring training as a huge green flag for 2025 World Series hopes
The biggest reason for Philadelphia's premature postseason exit in 2024 (and 2023, and 2022...) was egregiously poor plate discipline. That issue really spiked up last October, as Philly's normally prolific offense sputtered against a beatable Mets rotation.
There are too many culprits to name, but the point is simple. The Phillies need to see the ball better and stop chasing pitches outside the zone. It's a collective mandate, and the early signs from spring training are overwhelmingly positive. Philadelphia is on track to finish the spring No. 1 in walks among MLB teams.
The Phillies have drawn 148 walks this spring training. Barring any team walking a lot in their final game, they will finish spring training first in walks.
— 𝐾𝑦𝑙𝑒𝑒 シ (@BSP_Sully) March 24, 2025
It’s only spring training, but for a team that really needs to lower the chasing, that’s a good sign. https://t.co/dNgle23m6J
This feels especially notable through the prism of Bryson Stott, who squandered a promising 2023 campaign with a far less effective run in 2024. The Phils need the back half of this lineup to carry water. Stott, 27, is a huge factor in the middle infield — especially with Trea Turner losing his luster on defense. If Stott is working counts, getting on base, and cutting down on silly swings, the Phillies can feel a lot better about their future in the infield. Aidan Miller ain't too far away from the big leagues. Should we get to a point where Stott feels like a bankable, everyday starter at second (or short), Philadelphia can start to consider moving Turner to centerfield, which is long overdue.
Alec Bohm was another huge culprit in the Phillies' postseason flameout. It got so bad that the 2024 All-Star was benched at one point in the Mets series. Bohm has stretches where he's a hard contact machine who practically prints doubles, but when the playoffs rolled around, his swing was all over the place. He just wasn't extending ABs much longer than two or three pitches.
Castellanos and Schwarber are sluggers at their core. They live to jump on pitches early in the count and rack up extra-base knocks (mostly homers, in Schwarber's case). Bohm, Stott, and the like can't afford to be swinging willy-nilly when the core members of Philadelphia's lineup run hot and cold by nature.
Philadelphia ranked sixth among all 2024 postseason teams in walks with 16. The fifth-place Detroit Tigers, who also went to the Divisional Series, had 31. The Phils need to learn when to scale back the aggression. It could mean the difference between a deep October run and another quick goodbye. If this spring is any indication, Philadelphia has made essential progress on that front.