June 15, 2026
Eric Hartline/Imagn Images
If Brandon Marsh wasn't having a career, All-Star caliber season, the Phillies' batting order would be even worse.
Despite losing two of three to the Brewers over the weekend, it was a relatively good overall week for the Phillies, who continue to dig out of the massive hole they dug over the first four weeks of the season.
After moving up in the MLB power rankings of several outlets last week, including into the top five for two, the Phillies took two of three from the defending AL champion Blue Jays in Toronto to win their third consecutive series in June.
Then came a trip to Milwaukee, where the bats went predictably cold against the Brewers' best two starters but heated up for 17 hits in a middle-game win.
All told, the Phillies have actually gained a little ground on the suddenly reeling Braves in the NL East and have a great chance to get back in the series win column this week, with three-game sets in South Philly against the Marlins and Mets, neither of which entered Monday night's action above .500.
Let's look at see how the national outlets view the Phillies after the week that was:
The Phillies hoped, after their slow start before firing Rob Thomson and hiring Don Mattingly as manager, that they could show they were ready to be a legit NL contender again this weekend against Milwaukee. That may well still be true, but if they face the Brewers again, they’re going to have to figure out a way to solve Jacob Misiorowski and Kyle Harrison. Those two Brewers aces threw 15 scoreless innings this weekend against the Phils, who managed only four hits against them. [MLB.com.]
Misiorowski is amazing. Sometimes, you just have to tip your cap. But Leitch is right about not getting to Harrison, a good pitcher but by no means stifling or unhittable, the way the Phillies made him look Sunday. The Phillies have to hope they can get Trea Turner to snap out of his funk before they play the Brewers again. It's weird that Leitch wrote this about the Phils but still moved them up one spot from last week.
Adolis Garcia's likely season-ending injury will have them scouring for outfielders on trade market. [USA Today.]
That's the word on the street. In fact, we have more on this subject of the Phillies looking hard for an outfielder to replace Garcia's loss. It was just one weekend, but the combined 2-for-11 with seven strikeouts from Gabriel Rincones Jr. and Derek Hill against Milwaukee weren't encouraging.
The Phillies have not lost consecutive games since May 22, going 13-7 in their last 20 games to effectively erase their lackluster start. After missing the first 26 games of the season, Zack Wheeler is right back to pitching like an ace with a 2.22 ERA and 0.85 WHIP in 56.2 innings over nine starts [B/R.].
Despite Wheeler's return to ace form, B/R dropped the Phillies down one spot from last week. That's because their other ace, Cristopher Sánchez, didn't pitch like one Sunday against the Brew Crew, or else perhaps they'd have won the series. Brewers spare outfielder Blake Perkins owning Sánchez – now 6-for-7 career with three doubles and a homer – is one of those weird "that's just baseball" stats.
Wrote Jorge Castillo among an ESPN baseball writer panel:
The Phillies have stormed back into the wild-card race with an extremely top-heavy lineup. They had three regulars with an OPS+ over 80, and all three were well over league average: Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber ... and Brandon Marsh? The bearded left fielder is en route to an All-Star appearance in his home ballpark next month with the fifth-highest batting average in the majors (.326) and a 138 wRC+ that is 13th among major league outfielders. Harper and Schwarber get the shine – and rightfully so – but Marsh leads Phillies position players in bWAR and has become indispensable while others, including Trea Turner, have been mired in months-long ruts. [ESPN.com.]
The Worldwide Leader moved the Phillies up three spots but it's also important to note that they publish their power rankings on Thursdays, so the Phillies hadn't yet lost their series against the Brewers and were 7-2 in their fist nine games of June. But Castillo is right about Marsh's All-Star push, and while many of his teammates struggled against Milwaukee, Marsh did go 3-for-5 with two runs scored, an RBI and a stolen base Saturday in a 9-8 win.
It's actually remarkable how well the Phillies have played, for the most part, since firing Rob Thomson, considering the offense is a three-man show. If you exclude Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber and Brandon Marsh, the next-best OPS+ belongs to Bryson Stott, at 82 – that is, he's 18% below league average at getting on base and hitting for power and he's the Phillies' fourth-best hitter. [CBSSports.com]
"I know, right?" said every Phillies fan for the umpteenth time this season after reading that. Yes, what the Phils are doing sort of belies logic – wash, rinse, repeat. It also shows how average MLB teams are this season. To be as one-dimensional as the Phillies are and still be considered among the top six teams in the entire league says more about the league than it does about the Phils. Also, CBS Sports dropped them down two spots from last week.
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