July 22, 2026
The Philadelphia Phillies are a talented baseball team, and that's inarguable despite the many and long-persisting warts they have.
It's why they're probably going to make it back to the postseason for a fifth consecutive year.
But they also might be the lowest IQ club in baseball. There's a really strong argument for that, has been for years, and the conclusion of Tuesday night's 2-1 loss to the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers did nothing to quell it.
J.T. Realmuto doubled into left field to put runners at second and third with one out, after the Phillies arrived to the bottom of the ninth held down by one-run ball from L.A. pitchers Justin Wrobleski, Evan Phillips, and Tanner Scott.
Pinch-runner Justin Crawford stood 90 feet away from a tie game, and with room for error.
Then Brandon Marsh chopped an 0-1 pitch down the third-base line that the Dodgers' Max Muncy quickly scooped up. Crawford committed to taking a stride toward home plate and got caught in a rundown that eventually tagged him out.
Fine. That can be chalked up to a rookie mistake for the 22-year-old, even if it's a tough spot for an otherwise very veteran team to take.
But while Crawford was trapped in a pickle, Realmuto moved up and took third. He had a foot safely on the base. It was his, regardless of where his teammates in front of him tried to scramble to. Yet as he watched Crawford run back and forth, something triggered Realmuto to make a mad dash back to second.
Realmuto is 35 years old and a veteran of 13 major league seasons.
Mookie Betts tagged a falling Crawford out, then swung around to make the throw back to second so that Tommy Edman could get the game-ending tag on a sliding Realmuto.
And that was it. The Dodgers lined up for the handshake line, Realmuto stared into the outfield befuddled, the Citizens Bank Park crowd headed for the parking lot collectively scratching its head (while likely mouthing a few expletives, too), and the Phillies lost on a situation that was easily avoidable.
Then again, that's just Phillies baseball anymore, isn't it?
We are all Larry Andersen pic.twitter.com/BZN2E3vjSq
— Nick Piccone (@_piccone) July 22, 2026
"I don't know what J.T. was thinking there, honestly, because he got to third," interim manager Don Mattingly said afterward (via NBC Sports Philadelphia). "With contact on, you're just hoping Craw stays in it long enough to get Marsh to second, and you end up in the same spot."
"It was just a bad baserunning play, really," Realmuto said from the clubhouse (again via NBCSP). "We were going on seeing it through there, and once Craw gets in the rundown, I'm on third base. There's no reason for me to go back to second. Just a lack in judgment. Can't make two outs on that play. Just gotta stay in scoring position."
It isn't a killer for now.
The Phillies are 56-46, have a 3.5-game cushion in the NL Wild Card race, and remain within a 3.0-game grasp of the Braves for the NL East lead.
And during the regular season, a rotation front-loaded with Cristopher Sánchez, Zack Wheeler, and Jesús Luzardo, along with the thunderous bats of Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper, can mask a lot.
But they're sending Aaron Nola to the mound Wednesday night to close out the Dodgers series, and it's well known at this point that if the Phils don't have either of Sánchez, Wheeler, or Luzardo starting, it's a struggle to find other ways to produce wins.
It's obvious, too, that the bullpen is lacking, again; the lineup is pretty much boom or bust, again; fielding can't be fully trusted when Trea Turner is sprinting after ground balls with a major league leading 15 errors; and that when push comes to shove, and it comes down to the little things that decide those one-run games in the late innings, the Phillies still very much lack the awareness and quick-thinking to execute on the right call, despite how senior of a team they are.
Tuesday night's baserunning blunder was a bitter reminder.
And if it ends up as Phillies-Dodgers in the postseason, again, those little things, those small details will make all the difference.
If Bryce Harper and the Phillies can't outslug their opponents, the lineup generally struggles to produce otherwise, which has been a problem for years.
Talent-wise, maybe the Phillies and Dodgers are neck and neck.
Realmuto believes so. The catcher has been expressing that point since spring training and reiterated the thought postgame Tuesday night.
But the Dodgers are smarter.
They know where the ball has to go in any given scenario, and they know how to read and react to it when they're running the bases.
And that makes a difference, now and in October.
The Dodgers have the last two World Series titles partially because of it, while the Phillies are still trying to chase after one, but still with many of the same persisting reasons that have left this era short for years, while it's only ever getting older.
They're still talented, sure.
But smart enough? It doesn't look it, and Tuesday night was a brutal sign that at this rate they might not ever learn.
"There's a lot of talent on both of our teams, so you're gonna see a lot of times the games are gonna be won by the little things," Realmuto said of the Phillies-Dodgers matchup. "They've been able to make less mistakes than we have, really, in our series and going back to last postseason. They're such a powerful team. They can do a lot of damage. But we matchup well with them, I think, and where we have to get better is kind of on those edges. Make the small plays, make the routine plays, and not give them extra outs, not give away outs on the bases and stuff like that.
"It's the little things that you have to do well to beat a team like that."
But it's the little things that the Phillies still seem unable to do.
SIGN UP HERE to receive the PhillyVoice Sports newsletter
Follow Nick on Twitter: @itssnick
Follow Nick on Bluesky: @itssnick
Like us on Facebook: PhillyVoice Sports
