Philadelphia Phillies Owner Shares Thoughts on Team's Prolonged Struggles

Following some of their massive struggles, the Philadelphia Phillies owner shared his thoughts on what occurred.

Jun 5, 2023; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies owner John Middleton before game against the Detroit Tigers at Citizens Bank Park / Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

The second half of the season has not been good to the Philadelphia Phillies.

After dominating heading into the All-Star break, holding the best record in Major League Baseball for the majority of the year, they got off to a horrendous start by dropping five series in a row before thinking they stopped their skid when taking two out of three from the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Then, the Phillies were completely embarrassed against the Arizona Diamondbacks before getting shut out 5-0 against the Miami Marlins in their first contest at home following their 10-game road trip.

Thankfully, Philadelphia was able to find themselves in their last series against the Washington Nationals, winning three out of four and outscoring their division rivals 25-12.

Heading into their massive matchup against the Atlanta Braves, the hope is that the Phillies have finally put their prolonged struggles behind them.

Perhaps the person who is hoping this team has broken away from their issues at the plate and on the mound the most is the one who is paying for everything: owner John Middleton.

"The first week was bad. But that happens. The second week was worse. But that happens. By the time it got to the third and fourth week, it was like, OK, stop," he told Todd Zolecki of MLB.com. "It's time to shake off the cobwebs and start playing like it's May or June. The Rangers and Diamondbacks had time to recover [from midseason struggles in 2023] and got hot. Hopefully, we will too. But you can't just assume that's going to happen. You have to make it happen."

The Phillies have been searching for anything that would help them start winning again.

Maybe the team meeting they were reluctant to have earlier during their losing streak was actually what was needed the whole time after winning four out of their five games following them gathering on August 14.

Middleton seems to think that was necessary.

"I don't think you can just sit there and say, 'Oh, well this has happened and therefore we'll turn it around.' I don't think you can be that passive. I think you have to be pushing. And pushing people to rethink what they've been doing. That's coaches and that's players," he added.

Whether or not the changes Philadelphia has been able to make will carry them throughout the rest of the season and into the playoffs will be seen.

To win a World Series a lot of things have to go right.

The Phillies are hoping that whatever was going on when they had a prolonged stretch of losing is now in the past, allowing them to get back to being the dominant team who many considered to be championship favorites.