The 10 Best Moments of The Phillies 2025 Season So Far

The year is not over for the Phillies. Through 162 games, only the Brewers have a better record. But like another athlete in the city loves to say, "jobs not finished." The Phillies, despite varying degrees of success in the past 3 seasons, lack the hardware that people play the game for. The World Series Trophy still eludes them, despite a few teams having more overall success than them since 2022.

But they earned themselves a few days off before they need to worry about winning in the playoffs. They secured the bye week and await the winner of Dodgers and the Reds. So it gives us time to reflect on what was a really fun regular season. And here were some of the best moments in the regular season, in no particular order.

By mid-season, Phillies fans were starving for a true closer. The truth is it is something the team has lacked for a while. They have had good setup guys, but it has been a while since they had that true 9th inning guy you have absolute faith in. Enter Jhoan Duran.

The Phillies made quite a splash when they landed him. And the debut did not disappoint. The lights are going down, the toll of the Undertaker bell, and of course, the entrance music that by now Phillies fans know by heart. The performance did not disappoint either. He needed just 4 pitches to get 3 outs and secure the 5-4 win over a Tigers team who at the time had the best record in Baseball.

Zack Wheeler's season, unfortunately, was derailed by a scary medical issue. He has since had a successful procedure to remove a blood clot and is recovering. But it sadly ended a very promising season.

But before the medical issues, he had one of the best starts of his career. 9 innings, and just 1 hit allowed. That 1 hit was an Hr in the 5th inning. But he got the 27 other batters he faced out, facing just one more than the minimum on 108 pitches. He also struck out 12 batters.

It was masterful. Perhaps the most impressive Wheeler has looked in a Phillies jersey, and that is saying something. Sadly, it was the last time we saw him look like himself. Shortly after that, shoulder soreness started to hinder him, and they eventually discovered the blood clot. But we can still look back and appreciate the show he put on for us in early July.

In all of Phillies' history, the most HRs they have ever hit in a single game was 7. That changed this year. With the Marlins in town, the Phillies decided to treat a game like batting practice.

Kyle Schwarber started off the festivities with his 55th HR of the season. A few innings later. Edmundo Sosa, fresh off the IL, broke a 1-1 tie with his 1st Hr of the game. Then Stott joined the festivities 2 at bats later to make it 3-1. Sosa doubled that lead in his next at-bat with his 2nd HR of the night. From there, Schwarber added on his 56th HR of the season, followed by Alec Bohm going deep, Otto Kemp going deep, and finally Sosa making it a 3 HR night.

All of that equalled an 8 HR night by the Phillies, a new franchise record.

The series vs the Brewers earlier in the season went very poorly for the Phillies. So they went out to Milwaukee with something to prove. It looked like it would be more of the same on Labor Day, with the Brewers getting out to a 4-0 lead after the 2nd inning. That eventually turned into a 5-1 lead heading into the 5th

But the Phillies made some magic happen. Turner drove in 2 runs with a triple in the 5th. The next inning, Bader, Kepler, and Sosa all drove in runs to make it 6-5. The Brewers and them exchanged runs back and forth before Robertson blew a lead in the 8th. But in the top of the 9th, Marsh and Bader came up clutch again, helped hand Duran a 2-run lead, and he shut the door.

It was a statement win and full of big moments. I did not even mention Bader robbing an extra base hit at the warning track. Or mention that Bader and Marsh had a combined 7 hits, 4 runs, and 4 RBIS.

Any play that ends the game is going to be exciting. But while we all talk about walkoff hits, it is not often that we see a walkoff caught stealing. But that is exactly how a game vs the Dodgers ended back in April.

It felt like a big series when the Dodgers came to town. Yes, it was early in the season, but anytime you face a team like the Dodgers, it is going to be a measuring stick game. And the Phillies started the series off in style. Jesus Luzardo pitched a gem and handed the bullpen a 3-0 lead, but then Jordan Romano entered the game.

To say Romano's season was a disapointment would be an understatement. He surrendered two runs on a Tommy Edman HR, and had a man on 1st with only 1 out. It felt like they might blow it. But then in one fell swoop, Romano fanned Max Muncy, and Realmuto threw out the pinch runner Chris Taylor trying to steal second. An exciting play to start the series Phillies would go on to win.

The umpire tried to spoil the moment by calling Taylor safe. But further review saw JTs throw nailed him.

When the Phillies met the Pirates, no one thought Mick Abel would be the young pitcher who turned heads, especially with Paul Skenes on the mound for the Pirates. And sure, Paul Skenes pitched 8 innings, struck out the Phillies 9 times, and gave up just 1 run. But Abel had quite the performance his self in his MLB debut.

The rookie pitched 6 shutout innings, also struck out 9 batters, and surrendered just 5 singles. The 1 run the Phillies scored was enough, and earned the win.

Things eventually went downhill for Abel. He struggled and got demoted. But he did enough to pump up his trade value, and the Phillies eventually were able to trade him, alongside Eduardo Tait, for Jhoan Duran. Seeing this performance certainly helped convince the Twins to trade their star closer for Abel.

Back when the NL East was still very much up in the air, the Phillies and the Mets met at Citizens Bank Park in late June. In fact, at the time they shared the same record. At this point, the Phillies' latest memories of playing the Mets was being swept at Citi Field in April, and of course losing in the NLDS. So it is safe to say there was some bad blood.

The Philles took out that anger in the first game of this series at home. They won 10-2, but it was 2-2 going into the bottom of the 7th inning. That was when they opened the floodgates. 6 runs in a single inning to bust open the game. But the highlight was a Bryson Stott bases-clearing double, where Castellanos and Realmuto slide into home a second apart from each other to both avoid the tag out.

Speaking of the Mets, the Phillies got another chance at revenge in late August. In between that last play, and this series, the Mets swept them at Citi Field again. It turned a 7-game lead into a 4-game lead, and the Mets appeared to have life.

But despite many thinking that would give the Mets momentum, it had the opposite effect. The Mets lost 6 of their next 10 games to squander all the progress they had made up. It led into a 4-game series at Citizens Bank Park, but this time it was the Phillies' chance to sweep.

They outscored the Mets 28-10 in the series, and killed any fleeting hope their rivals had of winning the NL East. But it was more than that. They seemed to strip the Mets of any fight they had left. They went 7-8 to close out the season, and missed the playoffs altogether, despite having the best record in baseball at one point in June.

The Mets having an All-Time collapse is like the cherry on top of what was a fun regular season for the Phillies.

It was a season to remember for Kyle Schwarber. It is no coincidence that he appears on this list of 8 moments multiple times. He hit 56 total HRs, coming up 2 shy of the Phillies record. Ryan Howard is the only other Phillies in team history to eclipse 50. But while Schwarber didn't set a new record, he did do something only 20 other players have ever accomplished. Hit 4 Hrs in a single game.

It is a feat rarer than a Perfect Game, and rarer than Hitting For The Cycle. Only 21 players have done it, and only 14 did so without extra innings.

And obviously, we had to include them winning the NL East. They went over a decade without winning it before last season. They only had to wait a year this time to do it again.

And what a way to do it. A 6-5 Win in Los Angeles in Extra Innings. They fell behind 3-1, roared back to take the lead, and blew the lead. Bryce Harper gave them the lead back with a go-ahead solo shot in the 8th. Duran then blew that lead, giving up a solo shot. It went to extras, Realmuto drove in a run with a sac fly, and David Robertson escaped from a bases-loaded 1-out jam to get the save.

Then the celebrations began, and the Phillies won the NL East for the 2nd consecutive year. You can only hope it goes better for them in the playoffs than last year.