The nightmare season continues to build momentum in all the wrong ways for the Philadelphia Phillies.
Now losers of seven straight ballgames, the club is spiraling towards the bottom of Major League Baseball.
Heading into 2026, the Phillies had World Series aspirations. They are now on the verge of eliminating themselves from the dance altogether if they are unable to stop the bleeding in April.
Despite some late offense, the Phillies dropped their second game of the series to the Chicago Cubs, 7-4. Chicago now owns the tiebreaker by winning the season series, which is now another notch against the Phils.
Jesus Luzardo was better on Tuesday night, but not by much.
The Phillies’ starter could not make it past the fifth inning, tossing 100 pitches in 4.2 innings of work.
When exiting the ballgame, Luzardo left runners on base. Orion Kerkering entered the game, allowing one to score, but limited the damage to just the one run.
Luzardo walked four Cubs hitters and only accumulated three strikeouts on the evening. His velocity was top shelf, touching 99 miles per hour on his fastball. His command however, left room for improvement.
The Phillies’ left hander exited Tuesday’s game with a 6.91 earned run average for the season, a mark that encapsulates the early struggles for the team overall.
Both Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber gave it their all to keep the Phillies in Tuesday night’s ballgame, accounting for three of the four runs the team scrapped together.
Schwarber’s solo blast in the sixth got the Phillies on the board. It was Schwarber’s eighth home run on the season, putting him at a pace for 56 on the season. This would match his total from 2025, which finished him runner-up for NL Most Valuable Player.
The Phillies designated hitter got back on base with a walk in the eighth inning, as the Phillies then trailed 6-1.
That gave Harper a chance to make his presence on the ball game known.
Harper drilled his fifth home run of the season, cutting the lead down to 6-3, keeping the Phillies within striking distance.
By the conclusion of the game, both Schwarber and Harper currently sit with an OPS of .917 and .901 respectively. They are both hitting at an elite level to start the season. Unfortunately for the Phillies, they are the only two remotely close to this caliber of production.
With the season unraveling and the team now seven games below the .500 mark, Rob Thomson’s future with the team is being discussed at an increasing rate.
According to NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Jim Salisbury, President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski is not looking to make a managerial change at this time.
However, if the Phillies continue to struggle, a move of any caliber will likely transpire.
Whether that is sending out an established player from the roster (Taijuan Walker or Jose Alvarado) or moving on from an assistant coach (Kevin Long), the Phillies cannot afford to watch their chances of making the playoffs dimmish any further.
They have an opportunity to split the series with the Cubs and earn back some ground against the Atlanta Braves this weekend.
Can they find themselves again?
