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2026 Phillies Wall Calendar Includes Three Guys Who Aren’t Even on the Team
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A reader emailed us saying that he got a 2026 Phillies wall calendar for Christmas. The gifter bought it from one of those Go! Calendars, Games, and Toys locations, which can be found in some of the (few remaining) malls around here.
The only problem is that three of the 12 players featured on the calendar no longer play for the Phils:
It’s a little hard to see without zooming in, but left to right, top to bottom, it’s Alec Bohm, Ranger Suarez, Nick Castellanos, Jesus Luzardo, Zack Wheeler, Bryce Harper, Carlos Estevez (!), Trea Turner, Brandon Marsh, Aaron Nola, Bryson Stott, and Matt Strahm.
Obviously Suarez and Strahm are no longer with the team. Ranger signed with the Red Sox and Strahm was traded to the Royals. Castellanos is all but gone despite having one remaining season on his contract. And the quirk with Estevez is that they actually have him labeled as Orion Kerkering:
That’s pretty bad! The back of the calendar says that this is an “officially licensed product of MLB Players, Inc.” The copyright is 2025, from LANG Companies, Inc., and the product was made in China, because of course it was.
There’s also a disclaimer that says this:
“The publisher has made every effort to ensure the accuracy of the data presented in this calendar edition. We cannot be held responsible for any errors, omissions, or inconsistencies. Please note all featured players are under contract at time of printing.”
Well, sure. You can’t predict the future and account for things that haven’t happened yet, like the Strahm trade, but you can use the correct image of Orion Kerkering for July. You can also follow some basic consulting with MLB people, who would no doubt just hand you a list of guys who are under contract for 2026. Instead, they put a free agent on the calendar and a guy in Castellanos who is most certainly out, barring some totally unforeseen turn of events. All they really had to do was throw Cristopher Sanchez on there, and maybe Edmundo Sosa. They had other options.
Anyway, if you got this as a gift, Merry Christmas! And if you did not, it’s 50% off at Calendars.com.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com