Photo by Jsayre64, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsThe Phillies Are Cooked and It's Not Even May
Philadelphia has lost 7 of 9. The NL East gap is 5.5 games. Their best starter took the loss last night. I'm supposed to wait until June to say this?
The Phillies are cooked.
Not struggling. Not in a rut. Not going through a rough patch that a players-only meeting fixes. Cooked. Seven of their last nine lost. A 5.5-game hole to the Braves in mid-April. And last night was the tell.
Cristopher Sanchez started for Philadelphia. The man has a 1.59 ERA. He gave up zero earned runs in six innings. He still took the loss. When your best pitcher pitches well enough to win and your team can't score more than one run behind him, that's not a slump. That's a structural collapse.
Chris Sale took the win. He's 4-1 with a 2.79 ERA. The Braves out-hit the Phillies 10-5. Series lead: 2-0. Atlanta goes for the sweep tonight — Holmes versus Painter, 7:20 on Peacock.
Here's the part that should terrify Philadelphia. The Braves are 14-7. They haven't lost a single series all season — 5-0-1. Battery Power has them on a 102-win pace with 84 percent postseason odds. And they're doing this without Spencer Strider. Without Schwellenbach. Without Waldrep. Three rotation arms on the IL and the Braves are still putting the NL East in a body bag.
What happens when those arms come back? Serious question. Because right now the Braves are winning with their B-plus rotation. The A rotation hasn't even arrived yet.
I said yesterday I was 85 percent the Braves are the best team in the NL. I'm not moving that number. I'm adding a new one.
I'm 78 percent the Phillies finish third in the NL East. Not second. Third. The Mets are coming and Philadelphia doesn't have the arms to hold them off while bleeding like this.
Phillies fans, I'm right here. @ me.
The Tilt
This isn't a Braves coronation. This is a Phillies obituary. The division race ended before Mother's Day.
— Dex Ponce
What's your take?
Keep Reading
October Has Two Off Days
I wrote yesterday that October asks a club who its best three starters are. The published 2026 calendar says the number is four, and Atlanta are carrying six arms with 17 games left to sort them.
Lopez Is Not Tonight's Problem
Everybody is about to tell you the Braves are gambling on an arm that has not pitched since July. The pitch count says otherwise, and it points at something worse.
_15.jpg&w=3840&q=75)
Somebody Has to Take the Turn
Atlanta went to a six-man rotation to keep five arms fresh for October. On the first night of nine straight games, the sixth man got ten outs, the staff gave up four home runs, and the bullpen covered the rest.