Phillies

Even After Losing Zack Wheeler, the Phillies Show Must Go On

By Luke Arcaini

Published: Aug 19th, 2025 · 10:15 AM EDT

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The Phillies welcomed a good Seattle Mariners team to Citizens Bank Park on Monday night for a three-game set, their first home series in 13 days.

Zack Wheeler wasn’t on the bench. The veteran arm underwent a successful thrombolysis procedure to remove a blood clot in his right upper extremity earlier that day. There is no timetable for his return at this time. The Phillies don’t know if their horse will pitch again for them this season.

The show must go on, even in such a scary time. This isn’t a hamstring or forearm injury that you see once a week across baseball, this is real life.

“We love Zack, man. He’s one of our guys in here. He’s one of our leaders. One of the heartbeats that makes us go every fifth day,” Bryce Harper told reporters after the 12-7 win. “He’s been one of the best pitchers in all of baseball the last five, six, seven years. So it’s irreplaceable, man. You start thinking about now just the game, but his family and his kids and everything else. It’s bigger than this game.”

Just about every team in baseball goes through injuries to their starting rotation. The Phillies have been lucky enough in 2025 that they’ve had guys to fill some voids. Mick Abel stepped in for Aaron Nola, Taijuan Walker is having a great year, and Jesus Luzardo has been a positive overall.

This isn’t a hole you fill.

Nobody in baseball has had more success over the last four years in baseball than Wheeler. His ERA has been under 2.85 in three of his last four seasons. His WHIP has never eclipsed 1.17 in a Phillies uniform. He’s thrown 908 innings in his first five Phillies seasons, amounting to about 180 innings a year.

Cristopher Sanchez has now become the Phillies #1. The lefty has put the baseball world on notice, emerging as the best left-handed pitcher in the entire National League. The top of the Phillies rotation will find their way through it.

Ranger Suarez, who entered Monday night with a 6.50+ ERA in the second half, turned in one of the best starts of his season, fanning 10 batters in 6.2 innings, allowing just one run while he was on the mound. He has a 3.25 ERA this year, and he’s turned into an extremely important arm for the rest of this season.

Aaron Nola will have to be better. Luzardo will need to continue tracking towards his first-half self. The lefty has a 3.50 ERA in three starts this August, getting through the 6th inning in all of those starts. Walker has been an impactful player for the Phillies in 2025 and they’ll need him to continue to keep that up.

Wheeler, the person, being healthy is priority number 1. The Phillies have not yet announced a timeline for his return, and it doesn’t seem like it’ll be anytime soon. But the Phillies have to weather the storm. They can’t fold because they lose a leader, they have to keep going, no matter how difficult it is losing a Cy Young candidate.

It started on Monday night. Some milestones, some bombs, and a great all-around performance. Trea Turner finally hit his first home run at Citizens Bank Park in 2025, which was also his 1,500th career hit. It was a four-hit night for the shortstop, who has 14 hits in his last 5 games and is slashing .317/.378/.472 with an .850 OPS since the All-Star Break. A surging Turner and Harper at the same time will be enough for this team to string together some wins.

A situation like this never helps a team, but it’s out of everyone’s control. Everyone thought the 2017 Eagles season was over when Carson Wentz dove into the endzone out on the west coast in a shootout.

A team can rally around a situation like this, because they don’t really have another choice.