3 Phillies who need to have better Septembers than last season

September baseball is here, and the Philadelphia Phillies got off to a winning start by taking the series opener against the Milwaukee Brewers, the best team in baseball. The Phillies head into the final month of the 2025 regular season still at the top of the National League East. They still have a comfortable division lead, even after last week's sweep at Citi Field at the hands of the New York Mets, and a second straight division title is well within reach.

A spot in the postseason seems like a sure thing. But where will the Phillies finish in the pecking order? Remember, the top two teams in the NL receive byes past the first round of the Wild Card Series.

If the Phillies want to finish out the season strong and take momentum into October, they'll need contributions from up and down the roster. Last year at this time, the Phillies went 15-11 in September and won the NL East despite big struggles down the stretch from some key players. With a division title and postseason berth in their sights this September, which Phillies need to step up with a bigger final month of the season than they had in 2024?

3 Phillies who need to have better Septembers than last season

Alec Bohm, 3B

Who can forget Alec Bohm's disastrous fall from grace at the end of the 2024 season? It was a stunning collapse for the third baseman who earned a well-deserved first All-Star nod last year. Over the first five months of the season, Bohm hit .290 with an .804 OPS, 13 home runs, 44 doubles and 89 RBIs. He was a dominant driving force of the Phillies' offense through the first half.

But Bohm's September went about as poorly as it could have, although he had an excuse. After suffering a hand injury in August, he finally went on the 10-day IL on Sept. 6. When he returned to the lineup, he was downright dreadful, hitting .170 with a .502 OPS in 12 games over the final two weeks of the season. The Phillies will definitely need more from Bohm this September.

The good news is that Bohm is healthy this year. Plus, it really couldn't get much worse than how his 2024 campaign ended. He finished August hitting .283 with a .735 OPS in the month. Overall, he's hitting .278 with a .717 OPS with nine home runs and 51 RBIs in 106 games.

Ranger Suárez, LHP

Ranger Suárez's entire second half in 2024 was one to forget. After pitching like a Cy Young candidate through the first three months of last season, Suárez struggled to a 6.54 ERA in the final three months while dealing with a back ailment. In five September starts, he went 1-2 with a 6.04 ERA, allowing 15 runs in 22 1/3 innings.

With a bumpy stretch post-All-Star break this year, there were concerns that Suárez was in for another tough second half. The pending free agent posted a 6.59 ERA over five rough outings from July 20 to Aug. 12. However, Suárez has settled down and looks like he will help carry the Zack Wheeler-less rotation through September. Since those five starts, the left-hander has tossed three strong outings with a 1.45 ERA and 23 strikeouts in 18 2/3 innings.

He's now 10-6 on the year with a 3.02 ERA, and the Phillies will be counting on him to finish what could very well be his final season in Philadelphia on a high note as they eye October baseball.

Bryson Stott, 2B

In 93 plate appearances last September, Bryson Stott scuffled to the finish line, hitting .253 with a .624 OPS. While he was dealing with an elbow issue that sabotaged most of his 2024 season, he's fully healthy this year and has been playing like it, at least recently.

After a glacially slow start this season, hitting .234 in the first half, Stott has picked up his game since the All-Star break, hitting .288 with an. 839 OPS in the second half. Since July 23, the second baseman has been on fire, hitting .311 with an .889 OPS, three home runs, 17 RBIs and nine stolen bases in 35 games.

Even though Stott has played himself into a platoon at the keystone, when he's in the lineup the Phillies need him to continue his solid play down the stretch. He can be a real sparkplug at the bottom of the lineup.

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