The Phillies are legitimately red-hot.
After finishing off a four-game sweep of the pathetic Rockies in Colorado Thursday, the Phils are winners of seven straight, have the best record in the NL (32-18), lead the NL East by two games over the Mets and 7.5 over Atlanta.
For those of us who write about, broadcast, podcast, or spend any time line talking about the Phillies over the last two weeks, you’ve likely encountered this kind of argument if you’ve had anything positive to say about all the games they’ve won or how certain players are performing at a high level. The following are all quotes from some of my X followers:
“It’s the Rockies John. Lot of good things happen for teams that play them. These 4 games in Colorado are basically exhibition games. There is absolutely nothing that will change my opinion about this Phillies team in this series.”
“Let’s see when they have a stretch of good teams they have to play. There is a reason Colorado has single digit wins.”
“Credit for beating up on the teams they should, but I’d caution anyone taking a victory lap to remember we’ve seen this movie before, and it’s sequel.”
“Let’s see them beat good teams consistently first.”
“It’s not incredible. You are just an annoying reactionary low IQ baseball fan.”
The last one was my favorite.
The Phillies own baseball’s best record against sub-.500 teams (19-3), which includes seven straight games against the last place Pittsburgh Pirates and even laster-place Rockies, who will threaten last year’s Chicago White Sox record for the most losses in a season (41-121). The team with the best record in baseball, the Detroit Tigers, is right behind them (16-3), and a season ago, when the Phils won 95 games, they were 5th in baseball with a 46-26 record against losing teams.
Good teams beat bad teams and, lest you forget, the Mets, Braves, Dodgers, Cubs and every other playoff contender is going to play the same teams at some point in their schedule. It is not easy to sweep two straight series or to win seven games in a row, I don’t care how lousy the competition is.
The fact the Phillies are winning virtually all of these games against lesser opponents points to two things:
It demonstrates the talent level on the Phils and just how much better they are than the rest of the league.
It allows them to bank wins against inferior opponents for when the schedule gets tougher and the competition stiffer.
We’re all waiting for October. The quotes above from social media voice a belief that anything the Phillies do against the dregs of MLB’s society, like the Pirates and Rockies, is meaningless. But after three straight seasons of reaching the postseason only to fall short, with the World Series the only true objective in 2025, the regular season feels like nothing more than a prelude.
Just last year, we watched the Phils take advantage of an easy early-season schedule and jump out to a 61-32 record thanks to a 20-7 month of May that featured a number of series against sub-.500 teams. We then gazed morbidly as the team floundered in the second half as the schedule strengthened, ultimately fizzling out against the Mets in the NLDS.
We’ve seen the Phillies play great regular season baseball before. For much of the fanbase, nothing matters unless it comes against the very best MLB has to offer in October.
And hey, there are measuring stick games/series in the regular season to be sure. Playing the Mets, Braves, Cubs, Dodgers, Diamondbacks, and Padres will certainly be much greater tests of their ability. For many, even playing well against the best the league has to offer this summer won’t be enough to convince them the 2025 Phillies are any different.
The only want to see it in the playoffs.
But in order to reach the postseason, one must beat these teams to build up a record good enough of winning the division or securing a wild card. The post-rebuild Phillies teams from 2018-2021 missed the playoffs in all four of those seasons in large part because they did not take care of business against the bottom-feeders of Major League Baseball.
Phillies Record Vs. Losing Teams Since 2018
Year
W-L
Rank
Year
W-L
Rank
2025
18-3
1
2024
46-26
8
2023
43-29
14
2022
53-28
8
2021
52-42
18
2020
15-12
19
2019
33-29
21
2018
36-32
21
We all remember soul-crushing series against loser teams as the Phillies were fighting for a playoff spot. How many times did the Charlie Manuel-era Phils fall to the Pirates in Pittsburgh? How many series against the Marlins in Miami did the Phillies yack away?
In an early September 2021, four-game match-up against the 63-77 Rockies at Citizens Bank Park, the 71-68 Phils trailed in the NL East by just two games. Here was a chance to take advantage of a weaker opponent, at home, and make up some ground. Instead, they lost three out of four and finished the series trailing in the East by four games. They lost a three-game series to the 56-79 Marlins in Miami the week prior, as well. In April of 2019, they dropped three of four from a Rockies team in Colorado that finished with a 71-91 record.
There are many more examples like this.
It’s true that smoking the Pirates and Rockies of the world doesn’t mean the Phillies have eliminated the flaws that have haunted them over the last few years. It does mean they’re playing good baseball, they’re improving, and that they’re strengthening their position in the standings.
And ask yourself this question as you pooh-pooh the run that Trea Turner, Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, J.T. Realmuto and Nick Castellanos are on:
#Phillies hitters in May:
Turner: .341/.356/.506, .862 OPS
Harper: .338/.400/.541, .941 OPS
Schwarber: .264/.376/.625, 1.001 OPS
Bohm: .333/.384/.500, .884 OPS
Realmuto: .246/.328/.474, .802 OPS
Castellanos: .308/.317/.397, .715 OPS
The stars are starring.
— John Stolnis (@JohnStolnis) May 22, 2025
Would you rather they were struggling? Are we not allowed to enjoy a hot-hitting Phillies lineup, a dominant pitching staff and a relief corps that is getting by against the worst teams in the league? Does it do nothing for the team’s confidence to play well, no matter who the opponent is?
I, like you, am waiting for the postseason. That’s what this whole season is about. You’re impatient. You want October to get here. So do I.
But there is a whole summer filled with baseball games, and if you’re going to criticize anyone any time they point out that a player is improving and doing things well, even if it is against an opponent that isn’t so great, you’re depriving yourself of enjoyment.
Nothing short of a World Series victory will ultimately make the 2025 season a “success,” but playing well against the bad teams isn’t nothing.
Just ask the 2018-21 Phils.