Philadelphia Phillies Using Marsh's Miraculous Catch as Turning Point

The Philadelphia Phillies might have the best record in baseball, but it felt like their season was crumbling before Brandon Marsh's ridiculous catch that given this team new life.

Aug 3, 2024; Seattle, Washington, USA; Philadelphia Phillies center fielder Brandon Marsh (16) greets designated hitter Kyle Schwarber (12, right) and left fielder Austin Hays (9) after a run each by Hays and Schwarber against the Seattle Mariners during the fifth inning at T-Mobile Park / Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

Even though the baseball season is a long one, there are moments throughout the calendar where things get scrutinized, and during the Philadelphia Phillies' ridiculously long stretch of poor play, that was clearly the case.

The once vaunted juggernauts who held the best record in baseball for longer than anyone in the sport this year looked like a shell of themselves coming out of the All-Star break.

There was a lot of nervousness from really everyone surrounding this team that they might have peaked too soon and would limp their way through the back half of the season with the possibility they might actually blow the NL East division.

Nothing was going right.

When the pitchers were performing well, the offense couldn't score runs, and when the offense was clicking, the pitching staff wasn't competitive.

The brutal luck they were getting handed by the baseball gods seemed to have turned on Sunday during their finale against the Seattle Mariners when Brandon Marsh lost the ball in the sun but wound up catching it anyway.

It was a shocking moment, something that didn't seem like it would happen to this Phillies team right now, but instead of letting that moment pass, they were able to blast three homers in the next inning and score five runs to secure a much needed win.

"That's to the baseball gods," Marsh said about why he pointed to the sky following his catch. "Thank you. Appreciate you."

Philadelphia was sounding a bit more like themselves following the game; a team that is loose and confident.

But for their ace Zack Wheeler, who delivered a gem when they needed him most by pitching eight scoreless innings where he only allowed two hits, he viewed this play completely different than the others.

"It felt normal. You want to feel like a good team. Right? We're a good team. We've been losing a lot, and things haven't been going our way. But, when they do, we're kind of like, 'Here we go again.' We're back to back to normal. Hopefully, we just start going back up," he said per Matt Gelb of The Athletic.

It's not surprising to hear that's the reaction of the stoic ace, but the sentiment that they are a good team and they just need to start playing like it again has been reverberating throughout the clubhouse during this losing stretch.

Sometimes, though, all a good team needs is a moment to break them out of their slump.

Maybe this was the moment for the Phillies.

Coming out of their series loss against the Mariners, they head to face the Los Angeles Dodgers in a highly-anticipated matchup that's a rematch from when Philadelphia made a huge statement by sweeping their NL competition at home to send a message to the rest of the league at the time.

But that was before the Phillies looked mortal.

Philadelphia has an opportunity to prove they have put those struggles behind them and are the good team they have been throughout this season.