The Philadelphia Phillies’ 2024 season came to a disappointing end on October 9, 2024, when they fell to the New York Mets in the National League Division Series (NLDS). While the Phillies had a successful regular season, their inability to hit off of starting pitchers ultimately led to their quick elimination in the 2024 Postseason.  

         1. Disappointing Free Agency 

Coming off a brutal Game Seven defeat at the hands of the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 2023 National League Championship Series, many fans expected the Phillies to be aggressive in filling a few glaring holes on the roster. In my mind, the Phillies’s front office failed to make the necessary moves to secure a winning team. Sure, the re-signing of Phillies homegrown starting pitcher Aaron Nola was important, but the re-sign was simply expected for a team with championship aspirations. The Phillies’s only notable pitching signing was with Spencer Turnbull, an injury-prone right-hander, who had some upsides. His agreement was only a one-year depth contract, so if it didn’t work out, the Phillies would still be fine.  As the end of the offseason neared, the Phillies signed former all-star Whit Merrifield. Merrifield is known across Major League Baseball (MLB) for his versatile defense, playing almost every defensive position available. Yet, it felt like the entirety of Merrifield’s tenure with the Phillies went poorly, leading the team to cut him in early July of 2024.  

         2. Fast Start Leads to Cold Summer

Over the first half of the season, the Phillies were by far the best team in the MLB, leading the National League by 6.5 games.  Even in a sport like baseball, where 162 regular season games are played, they still had a very sizable lead. Yet, the Phillies soon collapsed, going 33-33 over the last 66 games and falling to the number two seed in the National League. That is the same record as the Oakland Athletics, a team full of young players tanking for a high draft pick. That is simply unacceptable for a team full of stars. While the Phillies still made the Postseason as the number two seed, success in the MLB Postseason is usually determined by success in the season’s final month. The Phillies limped into the postseason and their weaknesses showed in their disastrous series against the Mets.  

         3. A Bullpen Implosion?

On March 23, 2004, MLB.com ranked the Phillies’s bullpen as the best in the MLB.  Yes, you read that right. Sure, throughout much of the regular season the bullpen did its job, but in no way did this unit ever play like the top bullpen in the league. However, the postseason brought a new low. The bullpen had an 11.37 earned run average per nine innings (ERA) across the four postseason games, an embarrassing mark for such a talented unit. The bullpen is a solid mix of both veterans and young players such as Matt Strahm, Carlos Estevez, and Jeff Hoffman, who were all critical pieces in the back end of the bullpen that failed to deliver in the biggest moments. Orion Kerkering made his debut during the last week of the 2023 regular season and continued to impress during his sophomore campaign. To be fair, this Phillies bullpen should have never been polled as the best in the league, but their performance throughout much of the year was nothing short of terrible.

         4. J.T. Realmuto 

For nearly a decade, J.T. Realmuto has been one of the MLB’s best catchers. Now, at the age of 33, Realmuto is starting to fall out of the “elite” category of players and is dealing with more and more injuries. Realmuto missed critical time this past season due to knee surgery in June and suffered a left-knee contusion in August. Realmuto concluded his tough 2024 season with a brutal playoff performance going 0-11 with 2 walks. The Phillies’s front office needs to understand that Realmuto is still a star catcher, but he is no longer capable of playing in 120-125 regular season games. It is in the Phillies’ best interest to either sign or develop a backup catcher capable of playing in 50-60 games per year who can both play good defense and hold his own at the plate. This plan will hopefully allow Realmuto to enter the 2025 stretch run fully healthy and ready to help the team.  

         5. Outfield  

The Phillies outfield came into the 2024 season with some uncertainty but with a lot of room for improvement. Right fielder Nick Castellanos built on his solid 2023 season with an even better 2024, batting clean-up and accumulating 23 home runs and 86 runs batted in (RBI). RBI are accumulated when the hitter at the plate scores a runner on base. He was also the lone Phillies player to play in all 162 regular season games. However, unlike Castellanos’s great 2024 season, the rest of the outfield was a mess. The center field was mostly a platoon, meaning time was split between Johan Rojas and Brandon Marsh, depending on the opposing pitching matchup. Rojas, a second-year player, had a very similar 2024 compared to his rookie year, 2023.  He continued to show gold glove defensive skills, but really struggled with the bat.  In many cases, Rojas almost felt like an automatic out at the plate.  On the flip side, Marsh is a much better hitter but also can be a defensive liability in center field. Center field is an interesting dilemma for Phillies manager Rob Thomson and his staff because of the many different players they have at their disposal. However, it is in the Phillies’ best interest to continue to develop both players and hope one of them pans out into an everyday player. Left field was also a platoon for much of the season. In total, the Phillies had five players play games at left field this season, including Austin Hays, Brandon Marsh, Weston Wilson, Whit Merrifield, and Kody Clemens. The Phillies had plenty of options, but no one stepped up and accepted the opportunity. This is a position that the Phillies need to make a priority during free agency.  

         6. Alec Bohm

Alec Bohm’s tenure in Philadelphia has led to a roller coaster of emotions. Every true Phillies fan knows about the clip of him that went viral during his struggles in early 2022.  But, Bohm has also done some really good things during his time with the Phillies.  For most of the 2024 season, he was the Phillies’s best player.  Yet, like many other baseball players, his performance can also be very up and down. Unfortunately, when his tough times did occur, they were very bad.  Following the Phillies’ postseason clinch, Bohm was one of the statistically worst players in the MLB, making him almost unplayable even though he could have been one of the Phillies’ best players. One of the most important questions the Phillies front office has to answer is whether or not he is capable of being a starting third baseman on a World Series contending team.  There is a chance that Bohm gets moved this winter, an option I feel will most benefit the Phillies the most going forward.

         7. Middle Infield

Second baseman Bryson Stott and Shortstop Trea Turner led the Phillies infield through the 2024 season. Trea Turner signed with the Phillies last season on a massive 11-year contract.  However, with that massive contract comes high expectations, and Turner hasn’t quite lived up to them throughout his first two years. Sure, he has had a decent couple of years, but Trea Turner has the potential to be one of the best players in the MLB.  This is why so many teams worked so hard to sign him when he was a free agent, and why the Phillies gave him a huge contract. Stott has shown glimpses of being a great MLB player, but over the majority of his young career, he has been relatively average.  His defensive skills are out of this world, but he needs to get more consistent with the bat. Stott has many years left on his contract and still has a lot of areas to improve. The Phillies should hope that Stott and Turner stay healthy and eventually regain their form, making their mark as one of the league’s best middle infield tandems.  

         8. Starting Pitchers

The Phillies’s starting pitchers led the way throughout the 2024 season. The starting rotation consisted of Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Ranger Suarez, Christopher Sanchez, and Taijuan Walker.  Wheeler continued his dominance, turning in a terrific season, and is a candidate for the NL Cy Young, an award given to the conference’s best pitcher.  Nola was in the first year of his new deal and turned in another impressive year, going 14-8 with a 3.57 Earned run average. (ERA)  A pitcher’s ERA is an average of how many runs they give up per nine innings.  Lefties Ranger Suarez and Christopher Sanchez also had really strong seasons, both making the National League (NL) all-star team. Taijuan Walker was a disappointment, constantly dealing with injuries and numerous poor performances on the field, making it likely that he will not return to the Phillies next year. The Phillies will also receive some more pitching depth next year as rookies Andrew Painter and Mick Abel could be ready for MLB play. The Phillies will continue to lead their rotation in the coming years.  

         9. The Home-Field Advantage

What has happened to this once-unstoppable Phillies crowd? This is the same crowd that carried the Phillies to the 2022 World Series and 2023 NLCS. Yet, this team has fallen short of expectations three years in a row.  These losses have started to affect the dreams and goals of a die-hard fanbase. Following this year’s NLDS, the Phillies had lost their previous 3 out of 4 home playoff games. This is, simply, an unacceptable statistic, especially when home-field advantage is of the utmost importance.  It will be interesting to see how much support this team will get from the fanbase throughout the regular season.  I believe that the fans will continue to fill Citizens Bank Park but the Phillies need to start achieving their goals and keep the fans engaged throughout the season.

         10. Looking Ahead

While many Phillies fans will be excited about the possibilities of many marquee players, don’t expect the Phillies to make many notable moves. For super hopeful Phillies fans out there, this also includes Juan Soto. The Phillies don’t need another superstar, they just need bench and utility players capable of making an impact with their bat. Expect Phillies President of Baseball Operation Dave Dombrowski to go after hitters such as Jurickson Profar and Alex Bregman. Both are all-star-level players who have consistently shown their ability to dominate with the bat against high-level pitching. While the starting pitching rotation is basically set in stone, the Phillies’s bullpen will be retooled. The Phillies will likely look to re-sign either Jeff Hoffman or Carlos Estevez, critical pieces of their 2024 bullpen, as well as signing multiple other relievers.  It will be very interesting to see how the team is reshaped over the next few months and where this Phillies team stands heading into the 2025 season.   

Citations: 

CBS Sports. (n.d.). Philadelphia Phillies [Fact sheet]. CBS Sports. Retrieved

     November 6, 2024, from https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/teams/PHI/

     philadelphia-phillies/stats/regular/

MLB.com. (n.d.). 2024 Phillies player stats. MLB.com. Retrieved November 6,

     2024, from https://www.mlb.com/phillies/stats/