They can’t play in Citi Field and hopefully won’t have to again this season. If the regular season ended today, they would play the Mets in a three-game series but all at home. A way different environment from the hostel confines of that park. Nolan McLean is also nasty, which is a little scary.
Also, the Cowboys traded Micah Parsons to the Packers? Good job Jerry!
The second half approach changes
Three weeks ago, I wrote a little bit about the second-half offensive surge the club went on but I didn’t
talk at all about how they might’ve gotten there.
Some of this is because of short sample size hot streaks. Bryson Stott has a 134 wRC+ in this span, Harrison Bader is at 123, and JT Realmuto is at 118.
But there is a big change in their overall approach. For most of this season, the offense tried to adjust for the potential issues the past two postseasons caused. They were a team full of free swingers that chased too many pitches outside the strike zone in October.
However, the changes led to a massive power decline throughout the lineup, which led to issues. They felt like a lineup that needed to string together hits but couldn’t hit the three-run home run. You need to hit home runs to win in October.
So the club is chasing outside the zone again but is producing a better offense overall. Here are their splits pre and post all-star break:
Pre All-star break
- 11th in wRC+ (103)
- team wide slashline of .255/.329/.404
- 8th in K% (20.8%), 7th in BB% (9.0%)
- 18th in home runs (102), 15th in doubles (152)
- 24th in Statcast O-Swing% (29.4%)
- 12th in Z-Swing% (65.7%)
Post All-star break
- 7th in wRC+ (114)
- teamwide slashline of .260/.321/.462
- 11th in K% (22.1%), 26th in BB% (7.4%)
- 3rd in home runs (59), 8th in doubles (68)
- 30th in O-Swing% (32.3%)
- 2nd in Z-Swing% (69.4%)
For better or worse, this is going to be the way the offense does enough in October. You can’t teach a bunch of old dogs new tricks. They’re going to chase outside the strike zone but they’re more aggressive in the strike zone and doing damage because of it.
Will this backfire in October? Maybe, but there is also the chance they catch fire. The same offense that out hit the Braves in 2022 and 2023 chased their way out of the playoffs against the Arizona Diamondbacks and New York Mets. Who knows.
Right Field
We know the Phillies don’t want to talk about right field but they sort of have to at this point.
Nick Castellanos has been through several ups and downs as a Philadelphia Phillie. He was one of their best players the past two Octobers and made the all-star game in 2023. However, that stuff only goes so far.
Since the start of July, Castellanos is hitting just .202 with a .562 OPS. The at-bats look more difficult for him. He isn’t catching up to fastballs anymore but is having a harder time sitting back on breaking stuff.
Some of this has to be attributed to his physical decline. His average bat speed went down from 71.9 mph in 2024 (which was down from 72.4 mph in 2023) to 70.3 mph in 2025. He is slugging just .396 on four-seam fastballs this year, which is worse than his 2022 season.
All of this, combined with Castellanos’s defensive in right field getting worse, it’s getting harder and harder to justify making him the primary right fielder.
The problem is that the other options don’t sound great either. Max Kepler has an .802 OPS in August but only in 48 plate appearances. He also isn’t walking in that span, which makes projecting future performance harder.
It’s not like Kepler is a massive offensive upgrade either; he has a slashline of .216/.299/.375 with an 85 wRC+ for the season. He would also require a platoon partner, so Castellanos would still need a role. Justin Crawford has put together good results in AAA but still carries a swing that needs a lot of work.
An imperfect solution might be to run a right field platoon with Max Kepler and Nick Castellanos, but it’s not a good solution because neither are good enough to play that much. However, they need help wherever they can get it.
