The Phillies offense struggled again on Monday night, falling 10-4 in the series opener to the Giants.

The team struck out a combined 13 times, went 1 for 11 with RISP, and left 8 runners on base. They piled on 3 runs in the first inning, and other than a Nick Castellanos mammoth home run in the 5th, went pretty silent for the rest of the game.

Rob Thomson spoke on the offensive struggles after the game:

While Rob Thomson is right, it’s not a good thing when you see the same struggles that have killed this offense the last three years start to show this early in the season. Runners in scoring position issues, negative offensive production from centerfield, and poor timely hitting…sound familiar? The Phillies 9-hole hitter is now 0 for their last 33 with 13 strikeouts and a .175 OPS. That’s concerning. What’s also concerning is that Nick Castellanos leads the starters in batting average by 51 points.

  • Nick Castellanos: .310 BA
  • Kyle Schwarber, the next highest: .259 BA

The Phillies are 3 for 46 with runners in scoring position over their last five games. You won’t play in November with numbers like that. Luckily, it’s April. But the problems that have been a key factor in early exits the last two postseasons are showing early in 2025.


Trea Turner is down to .236 on the season. Bryce Harper has an OPS below .750. While a lot of role players have been taking a lot of the heat, two very important stars aren’t playing like they should during this cold stretch.

The only thing you can do in baseball is get back on the horse the next day. That’s what the Phillies will do tomorrow, and luckily for them, they’ll face a 42-year-old Justin Verlander, who has a 6.92 ERA in his first three starts, tomorrow night at 6:45.