Phillies

Some Phillies Thoughts Heading into their Last Regular Season Series

By Nick Piccone

Published: Sep 24th, 2026 · 9:59 PM EDT

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It’s tight. It’s tight in Citizens Bank Park. It’s tight inside the Phillies’ clubhouse. The fans are tight. Can’t blame the fans for feeling that way.

After losing another series, the Phillies have officially not won a series since Arizona on September 1st. They now have to rely on the D Backs and Padres to lose games because they simply don’t win games on their own. Kyle Schwarber, Trea Turner, and Bryce Harper have once again disappeared. In Turner’s case, he’s been invisible for almost six months. The bullpen is still in shambles and has only two arms in Alex McFarlane and Jhoan Durán you feel even the slightest bit good about. Luis Arraez might be done with his sprained ankle. But hey, at least they have their excuse for this season ready to go just in case.

I’m not a doomer, but it’s hard to paint this month as anything but uninspiring. Just biding time and waiting for the postseason – they tried that in 2024 and 2025 and it didn’t work out. They backed into the playoffs in 2022 and looked absolutely outmatched in Game 1 of the NLWC against the Cardinals before a miraculous 9th inning.

2023 was really the one year during this run where it felt like everything was going right heading into the postseason. And everything was until they went out to Arizona for the NLCS.

There’s a lot to be concerned about even if this team makes the playoffs – but we’re pretty much waiting until that officially happens before turning our undivided attention to it. When will that be? The Tampa Bay Rays have nothing left to accomplish before the postseason – they’ve already clinched the No 1. seed in the American League. The Phillies have been in that position before, and know even though the Rays are essentially on cruise control in the final series of the regular season, they need to use these three games to set the tone for the Wild Card series – if they get in.

There are issues surrounding fandom right now that are understandable. Some aren’t fazed because the Phillies could go on a run at any moment. Some are even downplaying other teams, saying the Phillies could easily beat all the other good/great teams in a series. And sure. It’s happened before. But there’s a reason those teams are great, too. Why are we assuming the Phillies could do something that those other teams can’t? Coping mechanism? Perhaps. At this point, that might be the only thing we have. The ones who’ve already written the team off are still hanging around waiting to take victory laps after the final out of the Phils’ season.

It was a brutally transparent series against the National League’s best this week. The Phillies are going to need to play mistake-free and step up in the clutch – something we just haven’t seen the last few seasons. The vibes are putrid. And yet – most of us are still ready to lock in once the playoffs begin.

Would be nice if the players felt the same way.