After losing the World Series to the Astros in 2022, Phillies fans might be forgiven for thinking that the team is stuck in reverse. A defeat to the D-Backs in last year’s NLCS has now been followed by crashing out in the NLDS to the Mets. Everything started to go wrong in the second game at Citizens Bank Park and the players could not do enough to bring the series back to Philly for the decider.
The first half of the regular season, in particular, is proof enough that this team is not getting worse. But if the record shows that the opposite is true, there surely has to be a major rethink about how the Phillies can claim another championship. The fans will have their own MLB betting strategies but the ball club needs to have its own plan to improve on another early postseason exit.
Consistently getting to the playoffs after a decade without October baseball would be good enough for the majority of the teams in the league. But a lot of money has been put into making the Phillies a championship-winning team and there has been little to show for that investment so far. So, just how can Philadelphia win the World Series in 2025?
Will Age Be a Factor?
The Phillies line-up is one of the most impressive in Major League Baseball. But there is no escaping the fact that all the main players are the wrong side of 30. With a 162-game season, could it be that the drop-off in wins in the second half of the year was down to the big hitters feeling the strain?
J.T. Realmuto and Zack Wheeler will both be 34 by the time the new season begins. Nick Castellanos will be 33, Bryce Harper will be 32, and Trea Turner and Aaron Nola will both be 31. Age is not seeming to have an effect on the fitness of these players but they are only naturally going to be more susceptible to injury and fatigue. It would be a huge stretch to suggest that the title window is closing because of the age of the big hitters. But there has to be some kind of planning over the offseason to redress the average age on the roster.
Keep the Core
Although the best players at the Phillies are not the youngest in the league, the first piece of advice for David Dombrowski will be not to tinker too much with the team. Yes, the postseason performances have been hugely disappointing in the last few years but this is still a group of players that can lead the league during the offseason.
All of those players we listed earlier are still competing at the highest level and not looking out of place. Zack Wheeler is the oldest player on the list and he has just come off of the best season of his career and was the most effective pitcher in the entire NLDS against the Mets. There have been no obvious signs of ageing in the group, so the core should be retained with only a few positive additions needed for 2025.
Consistency
Baseball is a game where there is a very fine line between winning and losing. It is so much more noticeable than in football or basketball – and, unfortunately, the Phillies have not quite been able to navigate that line in the last few years. There has been a season-on-season increase when it comes to regular season games won, so achieving a little more consistency in the postseason should be the main priority.
It was very noticeable that Philadelphia went all in for a championship banner this season. The talk of Red October hung heavy in the air and that loss to the Mets was not expected, even though the team from Queens played some of the best baseball in the final weeks of the regular season. The Phillies now have to be that team – the one that brings momentum into the playoffs.
Improve the Bullpen
Anyone expecting a major rehaul of the roster for 2025 is going to be severely disappointed, we think. But that doesn’t mean that there are not some obvious areas that need a vast improvement. One of those is the bullpen – a part of the team that performed perfectly well in the regular season but disappeared when it mattered.
Once Zack Wheeler ended his stint on the mound in the first game against the Mets, it felt at times as though the Phillies were bringing complete rookies in to plug the gap. Not one of the other pitchers came away from the NLDS with his head held high, with the possible exception of Ranger Suarez. Andrew Painter is knocking on the door of the majors and might well be an option next season though.
Believe
The memory of that loss to the Mets is not going to go away easily. But Phillies fans can take solace in the fact that there is probably very little that needs changing for this team to return better and stronger in 2025. It might seem a little weak to just offer the need to believe in the process – but this is a Philadelphia Phillies roster that can easily come back and win over 90 regular season games next year.
The postseason will be another question, however. Maintaining the core of the roster is essential for continuity, while the addition of a few new, younger faces should be enough to keep the Phillies in contention. From there, all it takes is some real belief and the Phillies could win another World Series in a little over a year’s time.
