“This team is too good to do what we were doing for that long.”
Brandon Marsh says it was only a matter of time before the Phillies started clicking. | @WapnerNewman
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The Philadelphia Phillies had a brutal start to the 2026 season.
Led by manager Rob Thomson, the Phillies struggled in all facets of the game. They may have finally turned a corner.
Once the Phillies fired Thomson after a 9-19 start, interim manager Don Mattingly took over.
Mattingly is no stranger to managing, having presided over 12 seasons as the Los Angeles Dodgers and Miami Marlins skipper.
Since Mattingly took over, there has been a major turnaround in Philadelphia.
What was once thought to be a lost season for the Phillies has turned into a glimmer of hope. The Phillies are now 8-1 under Mattingly.
After Wednesday night’s comeback win over the A’s, left fielder Brandon Marsh made a statement about this team, per NBC Sports Philadelphia.
After a come-from-behind win Wednesday night against the A’s, the Phillies have improved to 17-20 after a dismal start.
The Phillies did something they haven’t done all season: Beat a left-handed pitcher. Philadelphia was previously 0-10 against left-handed starters.
Marsh was crucial to this win, finishing with three hits. When prompted, Marsh addressed Philadelphia’s turnaround under Mattingly.
“This team is too good to do what we were doing for that long,” Marsh said, adding that it was only a matter of time before the roster began producing consistently.
“This team is too good to do what we were doing for that long.”
Brandon Marsh says it was only a matter of time before the Phillies started clicking. | @WapnerNewman
Marsh has a point. Led by star players in Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner, Philadelphia was 96-66 in 2025.
Despite a horrid start to the season, Philadelphia is not out of it yet. Baseball-reference.com’s playoff odds have the Phillies at 38.3% to make the postseason.
While that isn’t high considering Philadelphia’s expectations going into the season, it’s better than it was a couple of weeks ago.
While the Phillies have a lot of work to do to retake the NL East, their play under Mattingly is encouraging.
Philadelphia is now 8.5 games back from the Atlanta Braves, and three games back in the Wild Card standings.
But is it for real? All signs point to yes!
After a slow start to the year, Harper is back to his normal self with a .922 OPS. But it’s been Marsh who has helped guide this Phillies team back into the win column.
Marsh leads the Phillies’ position players in bWAR with 1.3, showing how valuable he has been to the team.
Part of that has been his improvement against left-handed pitchers this season. Thought to be a platoon bat, Marsh is quickly showing he can hit lefties.
In 27 plate appearances, Marsh is batting .280 against left-handers. While the power hasn’t been there against southpaws, it doesn’t necessarily have to be.
In 127 plate appearances, Marsh has a .336/.362/.513 slash line with four home runs. His batting average ranks fourth in Major League Baseball.
On the pitching side of things, Cristopher Sánchez has once again been a revelation.
After Sánchez finished as the runner-up in NL Cy Young voting in 2025, he followed it up with another solid start.
He leads the National League with 2.0 bWAR, and has pitched to a 2.42 ERA in eight starts.
With ace Zack Wheeler finally back from injury, the Phillies pitching staff is much improved.
With everything going right for the Phillies since Thomson’s departure, Philadelphia’s resurgence is for real.
Matthew Singer Matthew Singer is a sports reporter covering MLB for Heavy.com. He has written for Heavy since 2025, and has two years of experience covering local professional, collegiate and high school sports, including writing for Cronkite News and Arizona PBS. More about Matthew Singer
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