The Philadelphia Phillies entered 2026 expecting another playoff run with most of their roster intact. Instead, they stumbled out of the gate badly enough to cost Rob Thomson his job.
The team’s fought back into contention since then, but their recent struggles have people questioning whether they’ll actually make it to October. That’s where Bleacher Report’s Zachary D. Rymer comes in with a prediction that Phillies fans won’t want to hear.
He’s calling for Philadelphia to miss the playoffs entirely.
“The Philadelphia Phillies will miss the playoffs… Yet the Phillies do have one major disadvantage, in that their remaining strength of schedule is harder than those of Arizona and San Diego: Philadelphia Phillies: .502, San Diego Padres: .499, Arizona Diamondbacks: .496.”
That tougher schedule isn’t doing them any favors against their main competition for a wild card spot. But the real problem runs deeper than just who they’re playing.
Since the All-Star break, both the Padres and Diamondbacks have been playing significantly better baseball. San Diego’s gone 16-9, Arizona’s 15-10. The Phillies? They’re just 10-14 over that same stretch.
The math tells the story. Before Wednesday’s game on August 12, all three teams sit tied at 64-57 with identical .529 records.
It’s that tight. The Phillies are already walking a tightrope, and they need to turn things around quickly or that playoff spot they expected to have locked up might slip away.
Don Mattingly needs to get better results from his bullpen management. The offense has to start delivering with runners in scoring position – Tuesday night’s four-double-play disaster against their opponents was the kind of performance that kills seasons.
What makes Rymer’s prediction particularly unsettling is how realistic it sounds. This isn’t some wild hot take – it’s a genuine possibility based on how things have been trending.
Phillies fans have every right to be concerned right now. The window for fixing these problems is closing fast, and the competition isn’t waiting around for Philadelphia to figure it out.
