LOS ANGELES — A trip to Los Angeles might have been the perfect remedy to shake the Phillies from their malaise.
One month ago, the Dodgers absorbed a shellacking in Philadelphia thorough enough that it left no doubt about the top squad in the National League’s hierarchy.
“They’re clearly a better team than we are right now,” manager Dave Roberts acknowledged on July 11, after his Dodgers got outscored by 14 runs over three games.
Entering the rematch in Los Angeles, however, the distance between the teams had blurred. The Phillies’ 6.5-game lead on the Dodgers for the best record in the National League had dwindled down to 1.5. Their advantage shrunk not because of the Dodgers’ prowess — they have a losing record since the start of July — but because of Philadelphia’s sudden ineptitude.
The Phillies had dropped 12 of their past 16 games before traveling this week to Dodger Stadium.
The reasons for their free-fall since sweeping the Dodgers were numerous.
During that stretch, their pitchers ranked 27th in ERA and their hitters ranked 22nd in OPS. Their bullpen, a group that boasted the best strikeout-to-walk ratio in the season’s first half and sent two non-closers to the All-Star Game, became prone to walks and implosion. Their rotation, arguably the most formidable in the sport, began to display cracks. Perhaps most surprisingly, most of their sluggers stopped mashing. Since obliterating the Dodgers at Citizens Bank Park, Bryce Harper, Trea Turner, Bryson Stott, J.T. Realmuto and Brandon Marsh were all hitting .200 or worse.
And yet, this remains the most complete team in the sport.
Every other top contender has a more glaring flaw. The Dodgers, still waiting for reinforcements, have watched their 8.5-game division lead as of July 23 dwindle down to three. The Yankees’ offense — despite the way they’ve hit lately, including a couple of weeks ago in Philadelphia, where Aaron Judge earned “M-V-P” chants — has been volatile this year outside of Judge and Juan Soto. The rotations of the Orioles, Guardians and Brewers still have questions.
On Monday, before the Phillies snapped their skid of six consecutive series losses, manager Rob Thomson was still able to see the bigger picture despite his team’s struggles.
“It happens to every team, every year, at some point,” Thomson said. “You’ve just got to battle through it and keep grinding away,”
While this skid was naggingly longer than anyone could have expected, and particularly surprising considering how healthy the offense has been, these types of unsatisfactory stretches are indeed common for even the best teams in the sport.
The 2023 champion Texas Rangers went through an almost identical stretch, losing 11 of 16 and 18 of 31 games. The 2021 champion Braves did not go over the .500 mark until Aug. 6. The 2019 champion Nationals began the season 32-38. The 2018 champion Red Sox ended the regular season losing eight of their final 15 games. In 2017, the Astros were 11-17 in August. The Dodgers team they beat in the World Series went through a stretch where they lost 16 of 17 games late in the regular season.
On Monday, despite a loss, Nick Castellanos thought he saw a team that was more engaged. A day later, the Phillies secured an important victory in Los Angeles, one that gave them the tiebreaker over the Dodgers for home-field advantage in the playoffs should the two NL juggernauts end the year with the same record.
And on Wednesday, one of the only Phillies sluggers who hasn’t been mired in mediocrity over the past few weeks might have single-handedly blasted the group out if its slumber. It looked like the Phillies might be destined for a seventh straight series loss before Kyle Schwarber, who has an OPS over 1.000 since the middle of June, came to the rescue.
“The biggest thing is just being able to come through for this team,” Schwarber said after annihilating three home runs.
In the first inning, Brandon Marsh was unable to track down a fly ball at the wall. Then Austin Hays was unable to secure a sliding catch. The Phillies, despite getting a homer from Schwarber to start the game, found themselves immediately trailing. It got worse before it got better. An inning later, shortstop Trea Turner tracked back on a two-out fly ball into short left field and was unable to stab it, bringing in another two runs.
Finally, though, things would start to turn the Phillies’ way.
Schwarber doubled home two runs in the fifth inning. An inning later, a controversial obstruction call on a throw to third base gave the Phillies a break and served as a catalyst. They tied the score on a groundout and went ahead on a wild pitch before Schwarber put the game away on a 426-foot scorching homer off Joe Kelly. It was his second home run of the night. He would later add a third, securing the Phillies’ first series win since the last time they saw the Dodgers a month ago.
“It seems like there are times when we’re in a bit of a slump, and he’ll inject some energy into the club with a leadoff home run or a big home run somewhere,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “He’s a lot like Harp that way.”
Eventually, Harper and Turner are likely to get rolling again. Soon, as early as the Phillies’ next homestand, Ranger Suárez will return to aid a rotation that still boasts the lowest ERA in the NL. The bullpen has a little more security now with the addition of strike-throwing standout Carlos Estévez, a move that Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said should take some pressure off the other pitchers at the back end.
They don’t have everything figured out yet as they prepare to play in October, including how much time Bryson Stott and Brandon Marsh will see against lefties. Still, despite their current funk, the Phillies remain in prime position to win their first division title since 2011 with a group that’s more formidable than any Dombrowski has put together in his tenure.
Wednesday was a reminder of that force. They remain the NL’s team to beat.
“I think we are probably the most complete club we’ve had, assuming that we’re healthy,” Dombrowski told FOX Sports. “Our starting pitching’s solid. Our position players are solid. I think we’ve now got a nice blend of left-handed hitters, right-handed hitters. Our defense is much better than it was in the past. Pretty good team speed, and our bullpen hasn’t pitched well lately, but it’s very balanced. So, yeah, I think overall it’s probably the most well-rounded club we’ve had.”
Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.
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