Phillies Running Out of Time as Poor Performances Stack Up with Season Winding Down
Manager Don Mattingly #8 of the Philadelphia Phillies waits in the dugout for the start of a game against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park on June 24, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images)
What in the world has happened to the Philadelphia Phillies?
In two weeks, the 2026 MLB playoffs will begin. As of now, the Phillies are in a spot to make it back to the dance, this time as a wild card, a spot they haven’t been in since 2023.
It’s been an embarrassing last two years, both seasons where the Phillies felt and were good enough to win the World Series as division champions, but missed both opportunities and ever so slightly closing their window for a title.
Philadelphia hasn’t won a playoff series since their 2023 NLDS victory over Atlanta, losing three straight series. Every series has been lost in the same fashion: the offense has been downright nonexistent and inconsistent, leading to low-scoring losses due to the pitching staff keeping them in games.
Sound familiar? That’s because that’s exactly how the Phillies have been playing as of late. They have lost eight of their last 13 games, essentially ruining their chances at winning the NL East. Four of the losses came in seven games against the Braves, the team the Phillies are chasing, adding to the already horrible record the team has against teams that are in playoff spots.
It isn’t hard to see how bad the team has been, because just over two weeks ago, the Phillies were coming off one of their best months of baseball they’ve played in years offensively. Heading into Wednesday night’s finale against the Nationals, the Phillies’ runs per game dropped by over a run compared to August; their average dropped from .270 last month to .235, and the worst stat drop-off of all is in August: they had a .353 on-base percentage, and in September it fell to a .290, tied for the second-lowest in the league.
“We didn’t do anything, honestly,” Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly said after the Phillies’ 6-3 loss to Washington. “We didn’t do enough. We didn’t really create traffic. We didn’t have a lot of chances.”
This team refuses to get out of their way and try and be different when things aren’t going right, and time after time it bites them. Far too often, the Phillies have settled for early runs in games and just expect their pitching staff to hold onto the small lead that they give them. That’s where the problem lies. The Phillies are not adding runs throughout games and going multiple late innings without creating any traffic, and good baseball teams find ways to battle back late.
Look at the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLDS last year; look at the Braves during the four-game series two weeks ago, or the most recent series. Small leads from the Phillies got chipped away inning after inning; the Phillies wouldn’t add on, and late in games the other team would get a go-ahead or tying hit and would ultimately win.
This time of year, it’s crunch time for every ballclub that’s trying to get into the dance. Every game means more in September than games from previous months.
“I think every one of them is pressure now. You know, we’re not in the playoffs,” Mattingly said. “We’re not guaranteed anything. So every game’s pressure at this point, pretty much the rest of the way.
Despite the message from their manager, the Phillies feel like a team that’s content to get the season over with and reach the postseason because they know they can win in the playoffs. However, the problem is they still haven’t clinched a postseason spot, and they’re not guaranteed one with the way they’re playing.
While the odds of them not making the postseason are slim, they would likely have to lose upwards of seven or eight of their final 10 games to have a chance to miss. The Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres, the two teams battling for the last wild card spot and right on the Phillies’ tail, play a series against each other to end the season, so losses will begin to pile up.
While that’s true, there’s no excuse for the Phillies to be in this position. All season long, the Phillies have had to battle their way back into the postseason, as they started the season 9-19, fired their manager, and dug themselves into a hole that many teams wouldn’t be able to dig themselves out of.
They had that swagger of just go out and play and see what happens, but recently, that feeling has quickly vanished. They feel like they’re pressing; they feel like they’re trying to force their way of baseball to work, when in reality it isn’t.
The Phillies are a veteran squad that feels like they should be better than they are, and game after game they obviously show their emotions and show that they care about winning. They’re going out and competing night in and night out, but it just doesn’t feel like it when you watch them play despite them constantly saying it.
“I think we’re a competitive team,” Luis Arraez said. “I think we all, you know, describe ourselves as competitors.”
This team has the talent to win; we’ve seen the best version of this group post outstanding offensive performances followed by great days on the mound. They want to win; they want to be the last team standing, but it’s hard to believe that kind of talk when they refuse to do the little things and do whatever they have to do to win games.
Teams like the Milwaukee Brewers, Tampa Bay Rays, Atlanta, and Dodgers are at the top of the league for a reason. No matter what the job is, they do what they must to pull out the win, even if it means doing something that isn’t usual for them. Until the Phillies start acting like that, they’re winning a World Series.
There are 10 games left to prove that they can fight and make people believe in another long postseason run. While it’s not going to happen overnight, getting back to getting on base and working rallies throughout games should be the focus.
Matt Brown
Matt has been a Philadelphia sports fan all his life and spent four years at Penn State University majoring in Broadcast Journalism and minoring in Sports Studies. He previously covered Penn State’s field hockey, men’s and women’s basketball, and baseball teams while writing for a Penn State blog called Onward State. He has now covered the Phillies, Eagles, and Sixers for Philly Sports Reports since October 2024 and wants to pursue a career in Sports Journalism.
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