Phillies

Do Not Let the Philadelphia Phillies Get Hot

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Aug 18th, 2026 · 10:37 AM EDT

---

The Phils beat the Marlins 6-5 on Monday night to win their fourth game in a row and improve to 68-58.

They’re 11-5 in August and would go in to the playoffs as the second Wild Card team if the season ended today.

Here are some bullet points from this month:

1. The pitching staff is posting a 3.35 ERA and 1.28 WHIP over 145.0 innings, striking out 170 batters.
2. The lineup is batting .270 with a .369 on-base percentage, drawing 85 walks in 16 games while averaging 5.4 runs per.
3. Batting in front of Luis Arraez, Bryce Harper is hitting .358 (19-for-53) with a .514 OBP and 1.005 OPS. He’s drawn 17 walks against just four 4 strikeouts in these 16 games.
4. Arraez has seven hits in his last five games after going through a 0-15 slump. Even with those struggles, his presence in the lineup has been a boon to Harper.
5. Andrew Painter has a 2.93 ERA over his last three starts, which begins with his July 31st return from Lehigh Valley. He’s leaned heavily on the changeup and made offspeed adjustments to compensate for the lack of life on the fastball.
6. Aaron Nola has a 2.91 ERA over his last four starts, which goes back to July 28th. The knuckle curve whiff rate is up from 40.8% to 51.9% during this time and, like Painter, he’s upped his changeup usage as well.
7. Alec Bohm is batting a team-high .368 (21-for-57) with 5 doubles, 10 RBIs, and a .931 OPS in 16 games. He has struck out just 4 times all month and had a five-hit game in Minnesota.
8. Bryson Stott is matching Harper’s patience, batting .358 (19-for-53) with a massive .514 OBP and 1.005 OPS. He has drawn 17 walks while striking out only 4 times.
9. Justin Crawford is hitting .341 (14-for-41) with 5 doubles, a triple, and an .890 OPS in August.
10. Kyle Schwarber is batting just .224 this month, but has provided some serious thump with 4 HRs, 11 RBIs, and 13 walks (.365 OBP / .848 OPS).
11. Cristopher Sánchez: 3-0, 1.17 ERA, 1.30 WHIP — 23.0 IP, 30 K, 10 BB, .238 BAA in 4 starts. He continues to dominate.
12. Jesús Luzardo: 2-0, 1.25 ERA, 0.92 WHIP — 21.2 IP, 28 K, 5 BB, .192 BAA in 3 starts. Nearly unhittable this month.
13. the bullpen – 4.06 ERA, 1.28 WHIP — 57.2 IP, 64 K, 26 BB, 4 SV, 3 BS, 9 HLD in 16 games. Solid enough, though they’ve had a few minor hiccups with several blown saves.

Just a few bumps along the way, Zack Wheeler being one of them. He has a 5.84 ERA in three August starts, a rare rough patch for him. J.T. Realmuto isn’t having a good month at the plate and you never know where Jose Alvarado’s pitches are going to end up.

But more things are going well than not well, and as frustrating as the Phils have been at times this season, let’s hope the good form continues.