After a brutal start to the season, the Philadelphia Phillies have righted the ship. Their 6-0 win over Paul Skenes and the Pittsburgh Pirates pushed them to 24-23, putting them on the winning side of .500 for the first time since April 7th.
The early story of the Phillies’ season was an underperformance of both the starting lineup and rotation. Philadelphia began the season 9-19 under Rob Thomson, leading to his dismissal and bench coach Don Mattingly named the interim manager.
Under Mattingly, the Phillies have thrived. The team is 15-4 and has won all six series under their new manager. Further showing how strong they’ve played, Philadelphia is seventh in wRC+ (108) and fifth in ERA (3.07) since April 28.
One aspect that doesn’t get enough attention is Zack Wheeler’s return from injury. The Phillies’ right-hander has picked up right where he left off in his return from thoracic outlet surgery, with a 1.99 ERA and a 2.37 FIP in five starts. His return has turned the Phillies’ rotation into arguably the best in the league, led by himself and left-hander Cristopher Sanchez.
While it took a leadership change to make it happen, the Phillies have quickly morphed into the team most people expected they’d be entering the 2026 season. Mattingly is already getting glowing reviews by some of the most respected players on the club.
Social Media Reacts to the Phillies’ Impressive Turnaround
When a team suddenly goes from 10 games under .500 to a winning record in less than 20 games, it will generate quite the reaction. Here are some of the best posts on X on the Phillies’ remarkable turnaround.
As usual, Sarah provides the perfect historical context for explaining how insane this turnaround really is. When you can count the number of times it happened in the past 100 years on one hand, it truly is an impressive feat. Because that’s hundreds, if not thousands, of seasons to compare to.
It will be interesting to listen to what Jack has to say on the air regarding this turnaround. Phillies fans can listen to it on the drive home from work.
My guess is they will be ranked much higher on the next list after a 5-1 week and dominant wins for a team with a winning record.
That’s pretty good. Although it’s no shock considering they’re 11 games over .500 in that run.
Bryce Harper has been a big reason why the Phillies are back. The Phillies first baseman has homered six times in his last 13 games and owns a 157 wRC+ for the season, his highest since his second MVP campaign in 2021.
As they say, you can only control who you play. But I think he’s not giving both the Pirates and Athletics enough credit. Those are two teams that are playing above expectations and are on a positive trajectory moving forward. The Phillies should treat those as quality wins nonetheless.
Can History Repeat for the Phillies?
This isn’t the first time the Phillies have had to change managers under general manager Preston Mattingly and president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski. Four seasons ago, they made a similar move to save their season. Former Yankees World Series-winning manager Joe Girardi was let go in favor of Thomson.
The Phillies rebounded from a 22-29 start under Girardi and finished 87-75 to capture a Wild Card spot. The club got hot in October, taking down the St. Louis Cardinals, Atlanta Braves, and San Diego Padres en route to a World Series appearance. While they ultimately fell to the Houston Astros, that run established the Phillies as a contender.
The Phillies haven’t had much postseason success since. They blew a 3-2 series lead at home against the Arizona Diamondbacks the following season, then were bounced in the division series the following two seasons. For a team and city with championship aspirations, it wasn’t good enough.
With their change at manager, Dombrowski and Mattingly believe history will repeat itself.
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