Among their stable of stars, who is the one key player the Philadelphia Phillies can ill afford to lose in the 2025 MLB playoffs? It's a topic of debate among the fan base and media, especially as the club is already without the one player who would certainly improve their World Series aspirations in starting pitcher Zack Wheeler. If the Phillies come up short of a championship, Wheeler's absence will be a big reason why.
Suffering an injury to any other core player would further make winning the Fall Classic difficult. The Phillies withstood injuries to Bryce Harper, Trea Turner and Aaron Nola during the regular season. An organization losing one or multiple key players during a postseason series likely dooms their World Series chances.
At this point, without Wheeler, losing Cristopher Sánchez would hurt the Phillies' chances of winning a championship even more.
Phillies won't be able to withstand an injury to Cristopher Sánchez in the postseason
Sánchez took a massive step forward during the regular season, becoming one of the better starting pitchers in baseball. He became the Phillies' second-best starting pitcher before Wheeler's injury, with Nola's struggles and time on the IL.
Sánchez took over the role of their ace following the news that Wheeler needed thoracic outlet surgery, ending his season. Wheeler, the ace of the rotation, has been crucial to their success over the last few years. Sánchez will have a challenging task in getting the team off to a good start as they look to win Game 1 of the NLDS versus the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday.
He finished with a career-best 13 wins, a 2.50 ERA, 202 innings pitched and 212 strikeouts. Sánchez's strikeout total was the fifth-highest among starters in the National League and seventh overall. He also ranked third-highest in MLB in innings pitched and fifth in ERA. The 28-year-old is a candidate for the NL Cy Young Award in 2025.
Following Sánchez's start in the regular season finale, Phillies manager Rob Thomson commended the left-hander on his progression during his career.
"It goes back a few years now. Just his stuff, the development of the changeup. His command. The power. The poise," Thomson told the media postgame. "He's just a complete pitcher right now, and that's been an evolution over the last couple years. When [Wheeler] went down, we told everybody just be yourselves, that's good enough, and they were, especially [Sánchez]. He didn't try to do too much. He just went out and did his business, and he's been really good."
If Sánchez suffers an injury, Philadelphia would need to rely on Nola, Jesús Luzardo, Ranger Suárez, Walker Buehler and Taijuan Walker as starters to try to win in the postseason. While Nola, Luzardo, and Suárez can all be solid, they have also dealt with more inconsistencies than Sánchez this year.
Suárez has an injury history himself and avoided another after a 106 mph line drive struck him on the left thigh during his final start of the season versus the Minnesota Twins. Luzardo dealt with pitch-tipping issues earlier in the year that ballooned his ERA.
Sánchez will have the task of anchoring the starting rotation for a Phillies team that is entering its last chance of winning a World Series with this core of players. An injury to the left-hander would be demoralizing to their chances of finally winning a World Series.