Major League Baseball

Locked-in Phillies showing signs of last year’s turnaround that led to World Series

Updated Jun. 28, 2023 8:15 p.m. ET

PHILADELPHIA — A lot can change in three weeks.

When the Mets and Phillies met at Citi Field in late May, New York was in second place in the NL East on the way to sweeping Philly to continue its trend of, well, owning the division rivals. The Mets entered Citizens Bank Park this past weekend with a 17-5 record against the Phillies, dating back to 2022. But, three weeks after that three-game sweep of the Phillies, the stage was set a bit differently this time.

The Phillies should've been swept by the Mets again. They were down two runs in the series opener, but Mets star shortstop Francisco Lindor dropped a routine popup in shallow left field — much to the home crowd's whooping delight — to allow the Phillies to come back and win the game. Capitalizing on the opposing team's mistakes? The Phillies will take it.

"The team as a whole is playing really well right now and we're just feeding off each other," said Taijuan Walker, who threw six innings of one-run ball against the Mets.

Inside the Phillies clubhouse afterward, the haze from the smoke machine still lingered in a thick fog that streamed into the manager's office and stopped just short of the underground tunnel. The Phillies had already celebrated hard, but they didn't push it. This was an important win against a divisional opponent, to be sure, but players were too focused on the bigger goal to give that series-opening victory too much significance.

So the music was lower and the excitement had calmed as players zig-zagged through the clubhouse, putting their equipment away, getting into the showers, or leaving for the night. The lasting smoke and the surreptitious grins were the only remaining signs that they had partied.

The Phillies had time to bask in their win — for a moment. And then it was back to preparing for the next day's starter, Max Scherzer. Locked in. But it wasn't always this way. Through their first 50 games, they were four games under .500 and eight games behind the first-place Braves. The turnaround only began earlier this month, offering a stark reminder of how the Phillies put together their memorable run to the World Series last year.

"That's what we were asking ourselves the first 50 games," said Trea Turner on what's been the difference for the Phillies these past few weeks. "What's the problem? What is it? What is it? But it's just, we're playing better baseball. Getting leads, holding them, playing good defense, winning close games. Just doing a little bit of everything and I think good teams do that."

Last year, the Phillies got hot in June not long after president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski fired manager Joe Girardi and announced Rob Thomson as his replacement. Then, too, the Phillies started beating up on bad teams, won games against lesser opponents and took advantage of their rival's mistakes. Good teams win, or steal, games they should've lost. With key contributions from the starting pitching staff and bats beginning to get hot, the Phillies are once again showing signs of what got them clicking last June.

It sure looks like another turnaround is in the cards this season.

"I think we haven't played good baseball, we haven't played bad baseball either," Nick Castellanos told FOX Sports. "But we're just kind of getting settled in and we're getting back to the point where we're winning the games we're supposed to win. I think that's the first step for good teams. And then after you're winning all the games you're supposed to win, then you start figuring out ways to scratch and claw to win the hard games."

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The Phillies now know what it takes to reach October, and it involves keeping their heads down, doing the small things right, staying laser-focused on that day's game, piling up wins, and avoiding looking at the standings. Those were just some of the ingredients that got the Phillies to the World Series last year. And when teams like the Mets come into Citizens Bank Park and step on their own feet, like they did again on Sunday in an epic eighth-inning bullpen meltdown, the Phillies will take that as part of their path to the playoffs, too.

While the Mets are trying to get out of their June gloom, the Phillies have enjoyed a June bloom. They're 16-5 since June 2, eerily similar to when they turned their season around last June, and we know how the rest of that year ended up. Being crowned the National League pennant winners last year after a thrilling trip to the World Series has only increased the Phillies' confidence this time around. They're hungry to win it all, yes. But they already know this current successful stretch, if long-lasting and done right, will lead to where they're trying to go.

"It's a realistic possibility for everybody, you know?" said Castellanos of getting into the World Series again. "There's no panic. We're not walking around here like the game owes us something. Just because we came two games short [of winning a title] and did something magical, that baseball is now going to just hand it to us. We're definitely not walking around like we're expecting to go home after a 162-game season."

Other contending teams still struggling to find their footing should be envious of the Phillies about-turn these past few weeks. The Phils' ability to understand things will get better and the wins will begin stacking up is rooted in their track record. Largely the same roster did it just last year. Players don't have to think too hard or reach too far to look for motivation. They can still get goosebumps just thinking about their electric October run.

While the signs of a turnaround are there, they still have important pieces on the roster who should be playing better. J.T. Realmuto's 1.065 OPS last July was a significant reason the Phillies kept the ball rolling last summer. He got a day off in the Phils' 5-1 win over the Cubs on Tuesday after going just 3-for-20 with nine strikeouts in his previous six games. Turner, in his first year with his new team, has yet to really get it going, though he showed signs of life against the Mets last weekend. Kyle Schwarber is about to enter July batting well below the Mendoza line.

And yet, the Phillies enter Wednesday just three games out of a wild card spot. Even though they haven't shown us their sharpest, winningest baseball just yet, they have succeeded in avoiding a complete meltdown or spiral. The Phillies' performance in June seems like just the start of something special.

"It's completely different," Thomson said of the Phillies' performance in late May compared to late June. "We weren't playing well at the time. It's not that I didn't have confidence in them, because I always do. I know how great they can be. But right now we're in a stretch here where we're playing really well and just need to keep it going."

Déjà vu.

Deesha Thosar is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. She previously covered the Mets for three-and-a-half seasons as a beat reporter for the New York Daily News. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Deesha grew up on Long Island and now lives in Queens. She never misses a Rafael Nadal match, no matter what country or time zone he’s playing in. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.

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