After a horrifying 10-game losing streak sent the Philadelphia Phillies plummeting down to "worst team in all of baseball" status, the club has been riding high ever since being taken over by interim manager Don Mattingly. Donnie Baseball has propelled his boys to a 11-3 record over the past two weeks, and has firmly put the Phillies back into playoff contention. While many fans credit the borderline Hall of Famer for the remarkable turnaround, there may be a much simpler explanation: the Phillies have been facing bad teams.
Mattingly’s reign began with a three-game sweep of the lowly San Francisco Giants, including a pair of walk-off victories in a doubleheader. That jolt of life was followed by a series win against the Miami Marlins before the Phils took two out of three against both the homeless Athletics and Colorado Rockies.
ESPN Radio’s Jeff Kerr noted that under their new skipper the Phillies’ lifeless offense turned a corner, and has performed as one of the top units in the sport. A .275 collective batting average and 19 home runs both lead the way among all teams, and have been the driving force behind the club’s dramatic reversal of fortune.
The #Phillies offense — since Don Mattingly became manager.
— Jeff Kerr (@JeffKerrPHL) May 11, 2026
BA — .275 (1st in #MLB)
HR — 19 (1st)
SLG —.470 (1st)
Runs — 68 (2nd)
OPS — .794 (3rd)
A change in leadership surely has played some role in this newfound success, but the main reason for it is much simpler and a bit less exciting. The Phillies’ lowest point of the year so far has been their 10-game slide, which came entirely at the hands of the Chicago Cubs and Atlanta Braves, two of the best teams in baseball. Meanwhile, their recent success has come at the expense of teams at or near the bottoms of their divisions.
The Phillies have feasted on bad teams and they have even more coming up
There’s more where that came from, as the Phils began a three-game series against the tragic Boston Red Sox on Tuesday, which will be followed by a trio of contests against the improved-but-still-not-anything-special Pittsburgh Pirates. Once the current road trip wraps up, the boys in red pinstripes head home for a pair of three-game sets against the freefalling Cincinnati Reds and light-hitting Cleveland Guardians.
This two-week stretch against inferior competition gives the Phillies a massive opportunity to continue to rejuvenate their season and scratch and claw their way back into a playoff spot. Making up for lost time is even more important considering the fact that after the Guardians series is over, they’ll head out west to face the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers, two excellent teams located in a part of the country the Phillies have a tendency to underperform in.
The 2026 season has been nothing if not interesting so far, as less than two months into the season the Phillies have managed to kill their fans’ hopes and bring them roaring back to life in short succession. The front office may have run back the same roster yet again, but the product on the field has certainly been a departure from the same old song.
It remains to be seen just how far Don Mattingly’s Phillies can go, but if his first two weeks at the helm are any indication, this summer is going to be a lot more fun for Phillies fans than they previously thought.
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