A year in the life of a baseball team can feel like an eternity. There are times when things happen that I take a mental note of as something that we should remember, for posterity’s sake, only to forget that it happened the very next day. You call it the perils of being a parent, I call it middle age. Pick your poison.
2025 was yet another eventful run around the sun for the Phillies. There were highs, there were lows. There was health, there was injury. There were precise plays and agonizing (and
memorable) errors. It had it all. Here are the ones that you voted on as the ten most memorable events of the Phillies season, as well as a little blurb from your favorite TGP writers (and me).
Eight home runs in a game
Earl Weaver was a pioneer in baseball. He believed that the best way to score runs was by hitting home runs. He did not think that playing for one run at a time was worth it for a team. So, in whatever afterlife he currently resides, he probably shed a little tear watching the Phillies bash eight home runs on September 24, a day that also saw them wrap up a first round bye for the playoffs.
It was quite the night for Edmundo Sosa, the one who hit three of the eight, but as a team effort?
That’ll do. – Ethan Witte
Schwarber’s 4 HR game
Only 21 players in Major League Baseball history have hit four home runs in a single game, and Kyle Schwarber joined that list on August 28 against Atlanta. He’s the fourth Phillies player to accomplish the feat (Ed Delahanty in 1896, Chuck Klein in 1936, and Mike Schmidt in 1976). He was one baserunner away from a home run cycle, with one solo, one two-run, and two three-run homers. In his last at bat of the night, he had the opportunity to become the first player in history to hit five homers in a game, but fell short with a popup. The Phillies eventually won the game 19-4 and Schwarber cemented himself as an MVP candidate with this performance.
Adding to the excitement of the night was the fact that the cast of Abbott Elementary was filming an episode during the game, with a pre-planned appearance by Schwarber himself. It was quite a night for Kyle Schwarber, and now not only is his four-homer game one of the top moments of the Phillies’ 2025 season, but it’s part of the Abbott Elementary cinematic universe. – Allie F.
Double slide
Sliding is fun. We all tried it growing up, playing the game, getting dirty. It’s the part of the game that makes us feel closest to being a major leaguer when we’re young since they slide too! For the Phillies, maybe one of the most famous slides to take place in a game they were involved in was when Trea Turner slid into home with the smoothest slide ever seen.
Until now.
Straight out “Rookie of the Year”, J.T. Realmuto and Nick Castellanos gave us a season highlight that looked as cool on replay as it did live when it happened. – Ethan Witte
Bader trade
Should the team have fortified their outfield a little better in the offseason? In hindsight, yes. There were options available that would have helped them, but they chose to save a few bucks and hope that what they had already in their system was going to be good enough. So, once again at the trade deadline, they had to turn outside of the organization to improve a part of their team that was actively hindering their chances of winning.
Trading for Harrison Bader helped turn some things around. The outfield settled into a nice rhythm once they had an actual center fielder that could play defense and
So of course the baseball gods injured him during the NLDS. – Ethan Witte
Duran’s first game after the trade
There was a different energy in the ballpark that night, as I can attest to as I was at this game. The first place Tigers were in town for a matchup of two teams with some of the best records in baseball. The air was sucked out of Citizens Bank Park early though, as Ranger Suárez surrendered a three run homer in the third and the Phillies offense didn’t get their first hit until the bottom of the fifth. But Suárez settled in and finished seven innings without anymore runs allowed, which bought time for the offense to finally come alive and tie the game with a three run rally. But Orion Kerkering allowed a go-ahead homer in the eighth, creating a call for more heroics. Otto Kemp answered with an RBI double in the eighth and eventually came around to score after an error and a replay review on a Bryson Stott infield single. That gave the Phillies the lead and set the stage for Duran’s first time walking to the field at Citizens Bank Park. A hush fell over the crowd as no one knew quite what to expect, but then the lights went out and the bell tolled, and four pitches later, the Phillies had a star closer. – Joe Edinger
JT walkoff caught stealing in April vs. Dodgers
Early games in April usually don’t mean much. Sure, a win or loss then can determine a playoff spot just as much as one in September, but usually, rosters that are put together in those months will bear little resemblance to the one that ultimately makes a playoff push. However, in those early April days, the Phillies were matched up against the Dodgers in an early litmus test for both teams. It was the first game of the three game series and one of the first tests for Jordan Romano to see if he was able to bounce back from a tough 2024 that saw him injure his elbow and settle for a one-year deal. The Phillies had built a three run lead for him, but he gave back two of them almost immediately thanks to a Mookie Betts home run. Then, with one out and a runner on first, Romano struck out Max Muncy while J.T. Realmuto completed the strike ‘em out/throw ‘em out to end the game.
The Phillies showed they could hang with the Dodgers and give them a good fight in this series, something they did in the NLDS as well. – Ethan Witte
The Bunt
It has a name now.
The infamous bunt in NLDS Game 2, which I covered in some detail at the time, still makes me shake my head. The fact that the manager openly admitted he was only trying to tie the game is something that still, to this day, does not sit well with me.
I’ll never understand it. – Ethan Witte
Wheeler injury
It may have been illogical as the Phillies had the third best record in the NL and were five games up for first place at the time, but when news first broke about the severity of Zack Wheeler’s injury in late August, it felt like their season was doomed. Wheeler was in the thick of the Cy Young race and was the ace of arguably the best rotation in baseball. Luckily for the Phillies, they still had the ultimate Cy Young runner-up in Cristopher Sánchez. The lefty stepped up as the new alpha of the staff, going 2-0 with a 1.65 ERA and 31 Ks to 3 walks in Wheeler’s absence in September. Meanwhile, Wheeler appears to be progressing nicely in his recovery, and it’s not totally out of the question that he could be ready soon after Opening Day 2026. – Joe Edinger
Swept by Mets in August
The Phillies had a comfortable seven-game lead in the National League East on August 25th. And then they traveled to Citi Field for a three-game series against the Mets. I don’t know why Citi Field vexes the Phillies so badly, but they have shown an inability to win games there over the past two seasons, and in most cases, they can’t even seem to play competent baseball.
The Phillies lost all three games (putting them at 0-6 at the stadium for the season), and by the third loss, they barely even looked like they were trying. At this point, it seems to be partly mental, as evidenced by Alec Bohm claiming he was distracted by an antenna in centerfield.
Out came the Negadelphians in full force. They claimed that the Phillies – lead now down to four games – were going to be caught in the division race, and that the series showed that the team wasn’t good enough to win a World Series. The Phillies ultimately weren’t good enough to win a World Series, but I don’t think you can point to this particular series as an example why. They went on to go 13-3 in their next 16 games, including a four-game sweep of the Mets in Philadelphia. And eventually, they won the East by 13 games.
Will this teach fans that they shouldn’t overreact to any one series during a 162-game series? Of course not. And because nothing lasts forever, it seems like a good bet that the Phillies will even manage to win a game or two at Citi Field in 2026. (Probably.) – Smarty
Orion in LDS
It is an overwhelming likelihood that any given team’s season will end in defeat. Thirty teams vie for the prize, and all but one fall short. Even the favorite is more likely than not to lose. Nevertheless, elimination always comes as something of a shock. We know that our team will likely fall at some point, but we don’t know when and we don’t know how. If we’re lucky, that final defeat comes on slowly enough to allow ourselves enough time to acclimate to the impending end.
The Phillies and their fans were not so lucky this year. By the time the fourth game of the NLDS reached the 11th inning, Phillies fans had indeed considered that the season could end in the NLDS, but the nature of extras in an elimination game kept the possibility of elimination simultaneously immediate yet uncertain. The Dodgers had taken the first two games of the series, putting the Phillies on the brink, and a game 3 victory for the NL East champs in Tinseltown still kept the Angelenos in the driver’s seat. What happened next is likely seared into your mind, so we will keep the recap brief: Orion Kerkering took the mound in the bottom of the 11th with two on and two out, then loaded the bases with a walk. Andy Pages hit the ball to the mound. Kerkering missed J.T. Realmuto’s plea for the ball to be thrown to first, and Realmuto missed Kerkering’s throw. The Dodgers walked off into the night and eventual championship glory. The Phillies held together afterwards; the image of a grieving Kerkering being consoled by his teammates endures. But so does the memory of a very odd, painful moment in franchise history. – Jared Frank
Kyle in the HR Derby
The Home Run Derby has been lacking of late, thanks to poor production on the part of ESPN and a certain wistfulness of Chris Berman’s inane calls of each home run hit. It is still a marquee event for MLB, but there is just something missing.
At the All-Star Game this year, with the original edition ending nine innings still tied, the league was able to go to a derby to win the game rather than throw their hands up in frustration about what to do. This shortened derby type competition was fun for everyone, but it was Kyle Schwarber that would win the night.
Three swings, three home runs, one victory for the National League and for everyone involved. Let’s just hope it doesn’t happen again. – Ethan Witte
