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<\/p>\nIt\u2019s never good when your collection of high-priced hitters channels the performance of the worst Phillies team the city has seen in the 21st century. And yet, after their first three games of the 2026 season, the Phils are off to their worst offensive start since 2015.<\/p>\n
They enter their three-game series against the Washington Nationals Monday batting .186, the 4th-lowest mark in baseball, with a .292 on-base percentage (22nd) and .278 slugging percentage (26th). Their 18 hits in three games marks the first time since 2015 the Phils have failed to accumulate 20 hits in their first three games.<\/p>\n
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In case you needed reminding, those were some dark days. They hosted the Boston Red Sox to begin that season at Citizens Bank Park for a three-game series. They lost the season opener 8-0. Cole Hamels got blitzed for four runs in five innings of work, allowing four home runs in the process. The lineup for that day was cringe-inducing.<\/p>\n
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Three hits. Two walks. Nine strikeouts. Yikes.<\/p>\n
The Phils won the second game, 4-2, behind Aaron Harang, but the bats piled up a meager six hits in the victory. A 6th inning, three-run homer by Jeff Francoeur did virtually all the damage.<\/p>\n
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The Phils then lost the rubber match, 6-2. No. 3 starter David Buchanan (we\u2019ve come a long way, haven\u2019t we?), lasted just three innings and allowed six runs on seven hits and four walks, allowing 11 of the 19 batters he faced to reach base. The anemic Phils lineup could produce only five hits in the third game, all of them singles.<\/p>\n
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The 2015 Phillies lost 99 games. They finished 27 games out of first place, dead last in the NL East. So no, you don\u2019t want your World Series caliber roster compared to this combination of washed former champions, mediocre veterans and hoped-for prospects that never lived up to their potential.<\/p>\n
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Of course, the 2026 Phillies are not the 2015 Phillies. No matter how down you may be about this team\u2019s chances of winning a World Series, there is no doubt the 26 players we saw over the weekend at the Bank are light years better than the \u201815 roster that signaled the represented the bottom of the post-2011 rebuild.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s little doubt the trio of Kyle Schwarber, Trea Turner and Bryce Harper will improve on their 5-for-37, 12 strikeout, 3-walk opening act. They won\u2019t go 0-for-17 on their first two trips through the lineup in their two losses over the weekend again, either.<\/p>\n
And as we will encourage you to do throughout this Phillies season, it\u2019s important to zoom out and see what else is happening around the league.<\/p>\n
So yes, all the early-season caveats apply.<\/p>\n
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It\u2019s still March. The weather is not hitter-ish. And lest we forget, a lack of power plagued the Phillies throughout the first half of last year before the warmer weather kicked in and the ball began flying around CBP again.<\/p>\n
This is what the Phillies offense is. For better or worse, they are a streaky bunch. The additions of Adolis Garcia and Justin Crawford weren\u2019t going to \u201cfix\u201d the lineups flaws. When things are going badly, it looks really bad. The same can be said for every other struggling offense. Everyone would have felt better had the bats continued their Opening Day production in Games 2 and 3, but they didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
As manager Rob Thomson noted after Sunday\u2019s 8-3 loss, the Phillies did draw eight walks on Sunday. Bryce Harper, who said he wanted to walk 140 times this year, drew two of them. Unfortunately, he also had one of his worst at-bats of a season that, admittedly, remains in its infancy. With the bases loaded and no one out in the 6th, down 6-0, Harper had a chance to put a major dent in that deficit.<\/p>\n
He swung at the first pitch, a slider in on his hands from MacKenzie Gore. He took a 96 mph fastball up and over the heart of the plate for strike two. After a waste pitch, a high-and-away fastball out of the zone, Gore ripped off a perfectly executed slider down-and-away that Harper tipped into the catcher\u2019s glove for strike three.<\/p>\n
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