The Phillies have gotten off to just about as good of a start as they could have imagined. After taking two of three from the Washington Nationals during the opening series, they have authored a 5-1 homestand, including a series win against the defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers.
There are a lot of things to like. The rotation is off to an incredible start. The lineup, outside of Saturday’s game against Roki Sasaki, produced against a top-tier pitching staff. Edmundo Sosa has become the right-handed version of Barry Bonds.
Here are a few leftover thoughts from the Dodgers series as the Phillies get ready to take on the division rival Atlanta Braves on the road.
The Edmundo Sosa dilemma will resolve itself
The most unintentionally funny quote of the year so far goes to Rob Thomson, who was asked what’s the plan to get Sosa in the lineup more often.
“We’ve really got to get into the lab and try to figure out some stuff to get him into the lineup,” he said postgame on Sunday.
Crafting lineups is not a reactionary exercise for Thomson. They are written out days in advance. Any drops or changes are rarely seen as a slight to the player because they are aware of what’s coming.
This is an issue the Phillies should embrace — and not overthink. Sosa, who is batting .550 with four doubles, needs to be in the lineup. Having him in there against the lefty Chris Sale on Tuesday is a no brainer. He can spell multiple players around the field, whether it’s Max Kepler in left, Brandon Marsh in center or Bryson Stott at second base. He played third base for Alec Bohm on Sunday.
Nobody should feel offended if they lose a start or two to Sosa. It’s too early in the season for Thomson to deviate from the plan of Kepler and Marsh in left and center. Bohm is still the third baseman. It will take a lot for Stott to lose the second base job to Sosa.
This will all resolve itself. Sosa’s hot streak will end, or someone will get hurt and a spot will naturally open up for Sosa to play everyday. Either way, the Phillies should not overthink this.
Phillies saw where Dodgers are vulnerable
In the bottom of the seventh of Sunday’s win, Bryce Harper ripped a ball into center field. It should have been an out, but Andy Pages got turned around, and Harper was credited with a double. He later came around to score on Stott’s RBI single. It was a tough break for Pages, who was also caught in a rundown during Friday’s game with Mookie Betts at the plate.
The 2025 Dodgers have the potential to be one of the greatest baseball teams of all time, but they are not perfect. The Phillies were the more fundamentally sound team on the field. They secured the series win on Sunday because they did the little things right.
Sosa hustled out what should have been an inning-ending double play ball if it wasn’t for a bounced relay throw from Tommy Edman. On Stott’s single, both Harper and Kepler read the ball in the air off Stott’s bat perfectly. If Kepler hesitated, he would not have been in position to score on the Sosa play.
The defense also shined in this series. Brandon Marsh made an incredible running catch in the top of the seventh, and got the ball in quickly to prevent Shohei Ohtani from tagging up and scoring. The infield defense in particular was strong in this series. Bohm had his best game of the season at third on Saturday, making multiple plays on ground balls near the foul line look easy. Turner snared a few hard-hit balls that aren’t always easy plays. Stott, as always, used his range at second to convert hits into outs.
And the Phillies looked more prepared to play in the elements than the Dodgers. Starter Tyler Glasnow was clearly annoyed by the rainy conditions on the mound on Sunday, and the Phillies lineup sensed that. It led to more patient at-bats, and Castellanos getting a pitch to hit against a lefty reliever with the bases loaded and nobody out.
The Phillies steered away from assigning greater meaning to this series. “It’d be nice to get a series win,” Thomson said as he shrugged his shoulders pregame Sunday.
“Just because we passed the test, doesn’t necessarily mean we accomplished anything,” Castellanos said.
But the Phillies have to feel good about being just a little bit better than the Dodgers in areas that matter in October, from pitch execution to defense to baserunning. A lot can change in six months, but if the Phillies and Dodgers do meet in October and Philadelphia comes out on top, we will have to look a little deeper into what happened this weekend.
Ohtani quiet, but other Dodger stars shine
Teoscar Hernandez drove in five of the Dodgers’ seven runs on Sunday. Betts went 4-for-12 during the series. Tommy Edman, Max Muncy and Michael Conforto all came up with big hits. The big story is Ohtani going 1-for-11 with five strikeouts, including three against Cristopher Sánchez, in the series. The Phillies aren’t taking any victory laps because the challenge is stopping the entire Dodger lineup, and not just the best player in the world.
“I have a plan with every hitter that I face,” Sánchez said Sunday via a team interpreter. “I had a plan with [Ohtani] and I tried to execute it.”
Jesús Luzardo mixed locations, and got Ohtani to chase a left on left changeup for a nasty swing-and-a-miss strike three in his third at-bat. Aaron Nola found success against Ohtani with the curveball. Ohtani could not pick up Sánchez’s arm angle and looked uncomfortable against the Phillies lefty all game long.
But Hernandez made an adjustment to his stance, moving a little bit off the plate to get to Sánchez’s sinker, and it worked. He homered twice in two at-bats against him. So yes, it was cool to see the Phillies pitching staff neutralize Ohtani. The next time around, the Phillies would like to be a little bit better against everyone else.
Phillies get vulnerable Braves at the right time
There’s a stat that circulated around the baseball world last week: No MLB team has ever started 0-7 and made the playoffs. It’s nonsense. With six teams making the postseason in each league, the Braves, who began the year 0-7, can crawl out of the hole they have dug themselves.
The Phillies do have a chance to make things even more uncomfortable for Atlanta than they already are. The Braves, at 1-8, are already six games out of first place in the NL East. They have lost both of Sale’s starts. A third loss to Zack Wheeler, who had a case to win last year’s Cy Young award over him, would be a big blow.
Reinforcements are coming. Catcher Sean Murphy will make his debut on Tuesday. He suffered a cracked rib after getting hit-by-a-pitch during the first week of spring training. Spencer Strider (elbow surgery) needs one more rehab start before returning to the Braves. Ronald Acuña Jr. (ACL surgery) is expected back in May.
But the return of Atlanta’s two best players might not be enough. As the Braves struggled to hit and dealt with numerous injuries in 2024, a few success stories in the starting rotation kept them afloat. Reynaldo Lopez, who transitioned from relieving to starting in 2024, might not pitch again this year due to a shoulder injury. The bullpen is thinner than it was last year. It’s unclear if Sale can deliver both quality and volume at the rate he did last year. Spencer Schwellenbach, who had a 3.35 ERA in 123 2/3 innings in 2024, may be the most important arm in the rotation. Schwellenbach, who has yet to allow an earned run this year, killed the Phillies last season. They will see him again for the finale.
The point is that there are cracks in the Braves’ foundation. They are still good enough to make the postseason, but it might become clear early on that the NL East is a two-team race between the Phillies and New York Mets. With some confidence coming off of the Dodgers series, the Phillies have a chance to make a statement.
