Phillies

It’s Time to Figure Out the Top of the Phillies Lineup, and There’s Really Only One Logical Choice

By Nick Piccone

Published: Sep 11th, 2026 · 9:11 AM EDT

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It’s time for the Phillies to set the lineup the way it’ll look in October. At least the first two spots. And the way it’s been for the last 45+ games is not the way it should be heading into the playoffs.

The second half has been tough for Kyle Schwarber. Trea Turner has had maybe two glimpses of “he’s getting out of his funk!” but is having a pretty bad season at the plate altogether.

Yes, I have held this opinion for weeks now. Yes, Schwarber and Turner have shown some life during the homestand against the Braves and Astros, but it ultimately was a failure of a homestand nonetheless. Turner notched two homers since Saturday and has a .948 OPS. Schwarber’s mashed four homers in that time and a 1.233 OPS.

Don’t be fooled.

This season, there’s a big enough sample size to say the top of the lineup is better with Turner leading off and Schwarber hitting second. I’m focusing on this specific season. Heading into Saturday’s game against the Atlanta Braves, interim manager Don Mattingly once again penciled in Schwarber at leadoff with Turner hitting second. They actually had a pretty good game and were instrumental in the Phillies getting the win. Schwarber finally hit another homer in addition to knocking in another run with a hit and walking twice. Turner walked, scored a run, and singled. All things considered, it was a good performance by both.

But I’m over that lineup configuration. They should move Turner back to the leadoff position and hit Schwarber second. They both have better numbers in those respective spots, and if they haven’t experimented with moving Turner down the lineup at this point, I highly doubt they are going to in the first week in September.

Before Saturday’s game against the Braves, Schwarber and Turner hit 1 and 2 for 45 games. Schwarber’s line was .226/.320/.412 with a .733 OPS in 207 plate appearances.

Hitting second in 83 games, Schwarber’s line was .244/.360/.562 with a .922 OPS in 369 plate appearances.

Almost double the amount of games and plate appearances, sure, but that OPS is ridiculously better. And that’s what we all pay the most attention to today, right?

For Turner, batting leadoff had led to a .253/.302/.404 line with a .706 OPS in 371 plate appearances. We all know .706 still isn’t that great, but compared to a .558 OPS while batting second? Huge difference.

The rest of his line batting second: .204/.262/.296 in 202 plate appearances.

That’s all the information I really need. If you’re worried about Schwarber, Harper, and Arraez all in a row, what’s the difference if you’re just using Turner to break up the lefty trio? I’d feel better with Bohm hitting in that spot at this point, but again, I just don’t think it’s something they want to do or we would have seen it for an extended period of time at this point.

Some people will say lineup order doesn’t matter anymore, but it’s clear that it does for this team. Harper was having a pretty good year, but having Arraez batting behind him allowed him to produce MVP-like numbers in August. Bohm and Stott are having better at-bats and if they move either of them up in the lineup and they don’t produce, moving them back down would certainly weigh on their minds. There’s a track record here. It truly seems all mental with these guys.

Heading into the final few weeks of the season, we’ve already seen the lineup once again collectively just fall into the mud. So just go back to what’s worked this season. Turner 1st, Schwarber 2nd – and hope the rest of the guys find their groove again. Listen, if it was up to me, I’m not sure I’d even have Turner at the top of the lineup anymore, but I’m looking at this through the lens of the Phillies – and there’s really no shot they move him down the order this late in the season; so this simply just might be the best possible solution for the rest of this season.