Five Takeaways From the Philadelphia Phillies’ 2025 Season

The Philadelphia Phillies‘ goal, like every other team, when they showed up for spring training this year was to win the World Series. Unlike most teams, the Phillies actually looked like they had the roster to get to the Fall Classic and win it all in 2025.

A resoundingly successful regular season saw the Phillies capture the second-best record in Major League Baseball at 96-66. They also ran away with the National League East, capturing their second straight division title. After multiple years of playoff disappointment, things looked promising for the Phillies heading into the postseason.

But a second consecutive early exit in the National League Division Series cast a dark cloud over the season, and rightly so. There’s no shame in losing to the Los Angeles Dodgers, but this Phillies team was supposed to be the one to topple the new evil empire on the West Coast.

Now all the Phillies and their fans can do is look back at a lost season and another lost opportunity with their aging core. As such, with the emotions now cooled and the postmortem well underway in Philadelphia, here are the key takeaways from the Phillies’ 2025 season.

Phillies’ Veteran Core Went Out With a Whimper, If This Is the End

Heading into the NLDS against the Dodgers, the Phillies’ bullpen was the area with which most were concerned. However, it wasn’t the relievers who proved to be their Achilles heel. Despite young Orion Kerkering wearing the embarrassing final play of the series, you can point to the offense from the veteran core as the reason the Phillies went home earlier than expected.

Since reaching the World Series in 2022, the Phillies have been relying on their veteran stars to carry the load. For the second straight year, the big boys struggled to get much of anything going in their three losses.

Trea Turner, Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper disappeared as the Phillies lost Games 1 and 2 at home. Those three went a combined 2-for-21 with 11 strikeouts.

After piling on future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw to blow open and win Game 3, the offense returned to more of the same in Game 4. Turner, Schwarber and Harper went 1-for-14 in that one. It’s hard to win in the postseason when your big boys don’t come through.

Turner, 32, and Harper, 33, will be back. Schwarber isn’t as certain. After an MVP-caliber career season, he’s heading to free agency with a hefty contract in his future. Especially for a 33-year-old designated hitter.

Catcher J.T. Realmuto will also hit the open market and will be 35 before the 2026 season begins. After experiencing his worst offensive season as a Phillie, he actually pulled his weight in the NLDS, going 6-for-17. Despite his age, he’s invaluable to the Phillies, but nothing’s guaranteed in free agency.

Outfielder Nick Castellanos, who will turn 34 before Opening Day, has one more year on his contract. He scuffled in the postseason as well, going 2-for-15. It looks like he’s on his way out of town, so that’s where we’ll head next.

If this is the last time all of these veterans play together, it was a heck of a run. They just didn’t get where they wanted to go.

Nick Castellanos Has Worn Out His Welcome in Philadelphia

Yep, it certainly looks like the Nick Castellanos Era of Phillies baseball has come to a close. The maligned right fielder still has one more year on his five-year, $100 million contract he signed ahead of the 2022 season. Even so, the Phillies seem ready to move on after a season of drama and underperformance.

Castellanos hit .250, his lowest batting average with the Phillies, with 17 home runs and 72 RBIs. His .694 OPS ranked 123rd out of 145 qualified hitters. His 90 wRC+ ranked 128th and his -0.6 fWAR ranked dead last.

He was also a massive liability in the field, finishing with the worst Outs Above Average (-12) among outfielders. His -11 Defensive Runs Saved was the third-worst, while his -12 Fielding Run Value was the third-lowest.

Players can have bad seasons between the lines. However, it was Castellanos’ off-field shenanigans that might finally force the front office to draw a line in the sand.

There was the incident in June after Castellanos was lifted late in a game in Miami for defensive reasons. An inappropriate comment to manager Rob Thomson crossed a line. Whatever he said reportedly left coaches and teammates disgusted, according to Matt Gelb of The Athletic, and led to a benching the following day.

Then came the playing time controversy late in the season. Castellanos lost his everyday role and wound up in a short-side platoon. The disgruntled and slumping slugger aired his grievances about Thomson’s poor communication through the media. It wasn’t pretty.

That all led to Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski’s curt remarks during his year-end press conference. While his words were measured and noncommittal, his tone was anything but, intimating that he has seen enough from Castellanos.

“Well, we’ll see what happens,” Dombrowski said about Castellanos’ future, per MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki. “I mean, I’m not going to get into specific players that are on our roster, under contract, but the things that you talked about are accurate, but we’ll see what happens.”

It sure seems like the Phillies will have someone new patrolling right field at Citizens Bank Park next season.

Losing Zack Wheeler Somehow Didn’t Faze the Starting Rotation

For most teams, losing a starting pitcher like Zack Wheeler would derail their season. When the Phillies lost their undisputed ace in mid-August, it was devastating news. However, the starting rotation depth, led by budding ace Cristopher Sánchez, stepped up.

Wheeler initially went on the injured list with a blood clot near his right shoulder. His season officially ended when he was diagnosed with venous thoracic outlet syndrome and scheduled for surgery. While the Phillies lost their top arm who was putting together another Cy Young-worthy campaign, the rest of the starters didn’t miss a beat.

The Phillies’ rotation finished the season with a 3.53 ERA, second-best in the majors. They also had the lowest xERA (3.38), FIP (3.40) and xFIP (3.42) and dominated starting staffs with 21.5 fWAR. The second-place Cincinnati Reds finished way back with 16.1 fWAR.

The most amazing part of this is that they excelled despite veteran Aaron Nola missing half the season and struggling to a 6.01 ERA for much of the time he was healthy. So how did they do it?

Sánchez easily took on the No. 1 starter role and blossomed. The left-hander took another step forward with Wheeler down for the season, going 13-5 with a 2.50 ERA, 1.06 WHIP and 212 strikeouts in 202 innings. The 28-year-old amassed the second-highest fWAR (6.4) among NL pitchers. He should finish second in NL Cy Young voting to Paul Skenes.

Pending free agent Ranger Suárez ensured he will cash in this winter. The lefty chipped in with a 12-8 record, a 3.20 ERA and a 1.22 WHIP in 157 1/3 innings.

Offseason addition Jesús Luzardo proved the trade with the Miami Marlins was a winner. He finished 15-7 with a 3.92 ERA (which is miraculous after his two-start pitch-tipping fiasco) and a 1.22 WHIP. He recorded a career-high 216 strikeouts in 183 2/3 innings, also a career high.

In fact, after the Phillies lost Wheeler, these three southpaws combined to go 10-4 with a 2.87 ERA with 163 strikeouts in 141 innings.

Free Agent Gambles Were Massive Whiffs

The Phillies made very few changes to the roster via free agency last offseason. Unfortunately, the ones they did make were disasters.

They started by signing former All-Star closer Jordan Romano to a one-year, $8.5 million deal. With the former Toronto Blue Jay coming off an elbow injury in 2024, this was a massive gamble for the front office. It didn’t pan out.

Romano, entrusted to help fill out the back end of the bullpen, flailed out of the gate and never recovered. He finished the year on the IL with an 8.23 ERA. Even if he was healthy, there’s no way the Phillies could have taken him into the postseason.

Sadly, the Phillies’ other bullpen addition, Joe Ross, wasn’t much better. Coming off his best year since 2016, the 32-year-old was supposed to bring experience to the relief corps. Instead, he struggled to a 5.12 ERA over 51 innings before the team had seen enough and released the former World Series winner in late August.

Max Kepler, the lone offensive addition was a head-scratcher from the get-go. Signed to a one-year, $10 million deal, he was another left-handed hitter in an already lefty-heavy lineup. Regardless, Kepler was supposed to finally solve the persistent outfield problems. He scuffled for most of the year, however.

In 356 plate appearances through Aug. 4 he hit .200 with a .645 OPS. The lackluster performance didn’t give him a leg to stand on when complaints about playing time surfaced through the media. He somewhat salvaged his season over the final two months, hitting .262 with an .827 OPS. By then, his place in Phillies lore was already well-established as another free agent bust.

Fans will be watching Dombrowski very closely over the coming months to see if he can redeem himself with better signings this offseason. It can’t get much worse, at least.

It’s Time to Infuse Young Blood Into the Roster

Over the last few seasons, the Phillies haven’t been in a position to reap the benefits of recent first-round drafting. With a trio of top prospects knocking on the door, 2026 could be a refreshing change of pace.

The Phillies were hoping to have Andrew Painter, one of the top pitching prospects, make his MLB debut this season. Unfortunately, coming back from Tommy John surgery, the right-hander struggled in his first taste of Triple-A. He posted a 5.40 ERA with 111 strikeouts in 106 2/3 innings.

His biggest problem was command, as is common with pitchers returning from Tommy John. Painter posted an uncharacteristic 3.88 BB/9. The Phillies are optimistic Painter will regain his command after a full offseason and expect him to challenge for a rotation spot out of spring training.

The one prospect fans were itching to see all season was outfielder Justin Crawford. He did everything the Phillies could have asked of him in his first season in Triple-A Lehigh Valley. He hit .334, which led the International League, with an .863 OPS, 47 RBIs, 88 runs scored and 46 stolen bases.

The one knock on Crawford has been his inability to translate his line-drive power to home runs. He only hit seven long balls this year. However, he did come on strong at the end of the season, hitting three homers over his final eight games.

Regardless, the Phillies are looking to hand the keys to one of their vacant outfield positions to the still 21-year-old next season. Let’s hope he gives them a reason to in spring training.

The final top prospect Phillies fans could see next year is shortstop Aidan Miller. He struggled out of the gate in Double-A Reading with a .217 average and .686 OPS in 77 games.

The good news is that the 21-year-old figured something out in late July and went on a tear. Over his final 31 games with the Fightin Phils, Miller hit .361 with a 1.100 OPS, five home runs and 15 doubles. He even earned a late promotion to Triple-A, where he hit .333 with a 1.032 OPS in a small eight-game sample.

Whether Miller makes an impact in the majors next year will likely depend on how he starts his season in the minors. The Phillies believe in his bat, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see him debut in 2026.