In just a few days, the 2025 Philadelphia Phillies season will begin.
Fans will flock to Citizens Bank Park by the thousands for the next six months looking to get away from the doldrums of life for a few hours, consume some top-dollar concessions, and root root root for the home team.
The Philadelphia Phillies will take the field having been thrice denied their postseason goal of bringing home the World Series pennant. How far will they go this year? Will they win the division? Who will be this year’s top performers? We asked our Philly Sports Network team of Phillies writers their thoughts on this upcoming season.
Phillies Team
Kyle Fisher (@KyleFisher45)
Team record: 91-71
Season result: NL East Champions and earn the first round Bye – NLCS exit at the hands of the Dodgers
World Series winner: Dodgers
Team MVP: Bryce Harper – he’s coming in fully healthy and not worried about learning a new position. He’s a man on a mission.
Team Cy Young: Zack Wheeler – he will finish in the top three in Cy Young voting again, and he is clearly the team’s best pitcher.
Hot take: Taijuan Walker turns in another solid season, just as he did 2 seasons ago, and remains on the Phillies all year.
Matt Watson (@MattWatsonMedia)
Team record: 93-69
Season result: NLCS loss vs. Atlanta
World Series winner: Boston Red Sox
Team MVP: Zack Wheeler
Team Cy Young: Zack Wheeler
Hot take: Jesus Luzardo finishes in the top five of Cy Young Award voting.
Final notes: The Phillies will make a big splash at the Trade Deadline.
Alec Kostival (@KostivalonBase)
Team record: 96-66 They will once again improve on their record for a 5th straight year.
Season result: Top Wild Card. The Braves will hit their stride for the last time.
World Series winner: Phillies over Red Sox (1915 revenge). This year has to be the year.
Team MVP: Trea Turner will have his first elite season with the Phillies. He’s playing for his future at SS.
Team Cy Young: Cristopher Sanchez. He’s winning THE Cy Young. He’s going to see a spike in K’s and record his second straight All-Star appearance. Increased velocity will tear through the NL.
Hot take: Bryson Stott will start the All-Star game at 2B.
Final notes: José Alvarado will get down-ballot Cy Young votes. He’ll be that good. 100 K season. ERA under 2.20.
Cory Nidoh (@Cory_Nidoh)
Team record: 89-73
Season result: They will win one of the Wild Card spots.
World Series winner: Sadly, the Dodgers will win the World Series again. They are the most complete team to start the season.
Team MVP: I’m going to go with Schwarber. I think if this top-of-the-lineup can get on base and force pitchers to pitch to Schwarber, he will drive in a ton of runs.
Team Cy Young: Zack Wheeler
Hot take: Cristopher Sanchez finishes top-three in NL Cy Young. Love what he’s been doing during Spring Training. His velocity and movement have been impressive. Think he gets better as the season progresses and has the best season of any starter in the rotation.
Kylee Sullenberger (@BSP_Sully)
Team record: 91-71
Season result: Top Wild Card spot.
World Series winner: Dodgers?
Team MVP: Wheeler
Team Cy Young: Wheeler
Hot take: Luzardo competes with Wheeler for team Cy Young.
Final notes: If you couldn’t tell, I think the rotation is going to be the biggest contributor to the 2025 postseason run.
Christopher Babos (@CBabosWrites)
Team record: 92-70. The Phillies wrestled the N.L. East crown away from the Atlanta Braves last season. Atlanta held the division in a chokehold with six straight division crowns between 2018 and 2023. The winner of the N.L. East has suffered the same fate in the postseason over the last three seasons—a disappointing 3-1 series exit in the N.L. Division Series. Led by a dominant pitching staff, the Phillies will repeat as division leaders at the end of the 2025 season despite a few more losses for the guys in red pinstripes than last season’s 95-67 record.
Season result: The Phillies will join the Los Angeles Dodgers as they watch the rest of the field battle the Wild Card round. Philadelphia gets revenge against the New York Mets in the NLDS, but Shohei Ohtani and his friends in Los Angeles are too much to handle in a six-game NLCS loss.
World Series winner:
Los Angeles Dodgers. The Detroit Tigers emerge out of the American League to challenge the Los Angeles Dodgers for the 2025 World Series. LA is too powerful for a Detroit team that learns valuable experience but walks away empty-handed as the Dodgers celebrate back-to-back titles led by superstar Shohei Ohtani.
Team MVP:
Bryce Harper. Philadelphia watched one superstar athlete complete his redemption story last month as Jalen Hurts led the Eagles to victory at Super Bowl LIX. Bryce Harper will do everything in his power this season to make it one of Philadelphia’s most special calendar years. Like Hurts, Harper was forced to watch another team celebrate a world championship as Houston claimed the 2022 World Series.
Three seasons later, Bryce has some added inspiration from watching the Eagles trip down Broad Street last month. “I’ve heard it’s the best thing in the world,” Harper told WIP radio in early March. “I’ve heard that all throughout my career with Jayson (Werth). If I didn’t say I’m excited to do that one day, I’d be nuts. It (the Super Bowl LIX parade) was electric.”
Team Cy Young:
Zach Wheeler. Since joining Philadelphia, Zach Wheeler has been one of the most dominant pitchers in the National League. The 35-year-old pitcher won 16 games last season and finished with a 2.57 ERA, both career bests. Wheeler will continue to excel as a main force in a dominant pitching staff logging another 15-win season with a sub-3.00 ERA.
Hot take: Jesus Luzardo bounces back to exceed his career-best 4.7 WAR from the 2023 season with the Miami Marlins. That season, Luzardo started 32 games with 178.2 innings, a 3.58 ERA, and a 10-10 record. The talent behind the pitcher from Peru is the best he’s had in his career, and the 27-year-old pitcher will excel in the rotation behind Wheeler, Nola, and Sanchez. Luzardo’s performance will allow Rob Thompson to move Ranger Suarez into the postseason… if the 28-year-old pitcher is not used in a trade to upgrade the roster near the trade deadline.
Final notes: With some luck, the Phillies can challenge for the World Series in October 2025. This very confident team has learned from back-to-back disappointing exits over the last two seasons. It could be the last ride for this team that Philly fell in love with two seasons ago on the electric Fall postseason experience.
Realmuto, 34, is at the end of the 5-year, $115-millon deal signed with the Phillies in 2021, while Schwarber, 32, completes a $79-million contract signed the following offseason. With some of those large deals expiring, there is no guarantee this close-knit group will remain intact after this season.
Shaun Nestor (@shaun_nestor)
Team record: 98-64. This is for all intents and purposes the last year this iteration of the Phillies will have to get the job done. The offense is healthy and at its strongest in a while. The rotation is at its deepest with a top prospect in Andrew Painter due up right around the Trade Deadline. The bullpen is strong. All of the pieces are there for a strong season.
Season result: 98 wins should be enough to lock the division, but the truth is the Mets and Braves will not make it easy. The Phillies could easily have losing records against both teams but still inch their way ahead of them for the division and for that coveted Wild Card bye. World Series winner: Philadelphia Phillies. This is the last year this team has to get it done. Kyle Schwarber and J.T. Realmuto are both free agents after this year.
Nick Castellanos won’t be too far behind. Could any one of them get re-signed? Sure. But keeping players too long played right into the Phillies’ demise post-2011 and I don’t think the organization has forgotten that lesson. Regardless, combine a strong team with what is likely a revitalized spirit after watching the Philadelphia Eagles get the parade they have been pining for years, and I think this team has the “hungry dog” attitude this year to get it done.
Team MVP: Kyle Schwarber. In a contract year and a new position in the lineup, Kyle Schwarber is primed for a big year. I think Schwarber will eclipse 50 home runs for the first time in his career and lead the National League in both home runs and RBI by the end of the year.
Team Cy Young: Aaron Nola. This is the year that Nola cracks the code and eliminates the once-daily home run hit off of him. Combine that with a crispier pitch here and there and I believe Nola will remind the entire league that he is still an ace starting pitcher. That being said, I believe Zack Wheeler and Cristopher Sanchez both have such good years that the three of them take votes away from each other for the NL Cy Young Award, which probably ends up going to Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
Hot take: Brandon Marsh remains the starting center fielder for the entirety of the 2025 season, pending injury. He improves his performance against left-handed pitchers and contributes his fair share from the bottom of the lineup.
Final notes: I believe the Phillies will have a pretty even-keel season with not too many bad spells. They will, however, hit one towards the end of July. Maybe it’s injuries or players getting in their heads, but something will just feel off. Then, on August 1st, as he is about to be honored on the Phillies’ Wall of Fame, Jimmy Rollins goes into the clubhouse and, just like he did back in 2007-08, sparks the team. The Phillies will then get on a hot streak so strong that there will be no stopping them until that parade on Broad Street.
Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images
