Philadelphia Phillies News

Home

Quizzes

Watch

Newsletter

Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

This One Aspect Will Result in Phillies Becoming World Series Champions

Originally posted on Philadelphia Phillies on SI
By Brad Wakai | Last updated Sep 29, 2025 7:00 PM ET

The Philadelphia Phillies accomplished their goal of earning a first-round bye.

With Trea Turner nursing a hamstring injury before coming back for the final game of the regular season, Edmundo Sosa overcoming a groin injury to have a historic night in his return, Bryce Harper likely dealing with the wrist issue that has plagued him for some time and a hard-worked starting rotation that surpassed their career highs in innings pitched, getting some time off was needed.

After the bye was implemented, there is some reason to suggest that getting one might not be the best thing in the world. Elite regular season teams have been sent home early due to upstart Wild Card teams getting hot at the right time in the thick of high-intensity baseball while the top seeds are sitting at home.

For what it's worth, that happened to the Phillies last year when they were eliminated by the New York Mets in the National League Division Series, which proved to be a stark difference from their previous two runs when they won their Wild Card matchups and took down the supposed-juggernaut Atlanta Braves.

Next up: Red October pic.twitter.com/7QRlkwqZCq
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) September 28, 2025

But Philadelphia wanted to secure the bye again this season, with Bryce Harper openly stating that was the team's goal after they won the division for the second straight year and already secured a spot in the playoffs.

They accomplished that. So while the rest of the playoff field faces off against each other, the Phillies will be able to sit back and rest up before taking the field again with their sights set on winning the World Series. And when it comes to bringing the trophy home to Philadelphia, there's no doubt that this season feels a lot whole different compared to where things stood at this time last year.

What Will Allow Phillies To Win World Series in 2025?

What is going to actually allow the Phillies to win that elusive championship, though? In the mind of ESPN's Jeff Passan, it's the longball that is going to drive them to glory.

"(Kyle) Schwarber and Harper have combined for 38 home runs in 510 career postseason plate appearances and are two of the best playoff performers of their generation. If the Phillies can hit some timely home runs -- eight others on the roster reached double-digit homers -- their case, already perhaps the most compelling in baseball, gets that much stronger," he wrote.

It's hard to argue against that. Philadelphia had the second-most wins in Major League Baseball in the second half of the season, tied with the Milwaukee Brewers and New York Yankees. A lot of that was due to their lineup, which led the majors in slugging percentage (.471) after the All-Star break and hit the second-most home runs (110). The boom-or-bust offense that's been present the last few years also was more well-rounded, with them having a batting average (.263) that was the third-best.

Continuing all of that in October will be crucial. But like Passan stated, if the home runs are there for the Phillies, then there is a good chance this offense will provide enough run support for one of the best pitching staffs in the game to finally lift the World Series trophy.