Philadelphia Phillies Must Stop This Downward Trend in Postseason

The Philadelphia Phillies have seen a poor downtrend emerge in the postseason.

Oct 8, 2024; New York City, New York, USA; Philadelphia Phillies manager Rob Thomson (59) walks to the mound in the seventh inning against the New York Mets during game three of the NLDS for the 2024 MLB Playoffs at Citi Field. / Brad Penner-Imagn Images

After a disappointing end to the campaign in 2024, the Philadelphia Phillies have had somewhat of a quiet offseason.

For the last couple years, there have been few teams in baseball that have been better than the Phillies. They have been able to rack up a lot of wins in the regular season but have yet to win the World Series with this current core of talent.

Since they were eliminated by the New York Mets in the National League Division Series this past year, it seemed like major changes could be coming for Philadelphia, however, while they did make a couple of moves, there hasn’t been the splash that many were expecting.

As they head into the upcoming season, they should still be considered one of the best teams in baseball, but there is a lot of work to be done when the calendar flips to October.

Zachary D. Rymer of Bleacher Report recently spoke about a New Year’s Resolution for each team in the Majors, and for the Phillies, he discussed the regression in their ability to win playoff games over the past last three years, with win totals going from 11 in 2022, to eight in 2023, and then just one in 2024.

“As trends go, this one is ... well, let's say uneven. Either way, the goal for the Phillies in 2025 is clear: Regardless of how many games they win in the regular season, they need to get back to winning in the playoffs.”

In 2022, Philadelphia was just two wins away from winning the World Series, however, since then it has been downhill.

In 2023, the Phillies lost in Game 7 to the Arizona Diamondbacks, and last season, they won just one playoff game and were eliminated in the NLDS.

Now, Philadelphia should once again be a playoff team in 2025, but finding ways to turn around their performance in October will be important.

In the loss last year, two of the main issues for the Phillies were their bullpen and outfielders' performance at the plate.

While the starting rotation did fairly well, the bullpen struggled, and on offense, they didn’t get any production from their outfield besides from Nick Castellanos.

Philadelphia hasn’t necessarily upgraded those areas, which is slightly concerning at this point in the offseason.

When looking at the National League, there are some excellent teams, highlighted by the Los Angeles Dodgers, who just won the World Series. While the Phillies have a starting rotation that can hang with any team in the league, their bullpen and lineup will be a massive question mark heading into the campaign.

While the talent is there for Philadelphia, winning games in October is not easy.