The Philadelphia Phillies have been somewhat of a disappointment so far in the 2025 MLB season. After a solid start to the year, things appeared to be on shaky ground over the past couple of weeks, leading to their current 15-13 record. With the bulk of the players from last season still a part of the team, what has been the main culprit leading to the Phillies’ struggles?
Well, to Philadelphia 97.5 radio host John Kincade, the answer to that question appears to be obvious, as noted by Awful Announcing's Michael Dixon. In fact, he sounded quite confident that it has been the main glaring reason for their less-than-stellar start to the 2025 campaign.
Philly radio host exposes truth about struggling Phillies we wish we could ignore
“You know what’s wrong with this (Phillies) baseball team,” Kincade said. "You know it and you knew it, and you go, ‘I still believe they’re good enough to pile up a lot of regular season wins.’ But this bullpen is far worse – far worse – than I expected them to be. I expected it to be bad, I thought it was reckless, and I called out the lackadaisical approach to this bullpen letting two guys go out the door this winter, but I never expected it to be this garbage. It’s garbage and it’s the worst in baseball."
No kidding. The Phillies’ bullpen currently ranks second-last in the league in ERA (5.28), has the fifth-worst in WHIP (1.50), and is dead last in batting average against (.278). On top of that, they have blown 7-of-15 save opportunities, throwing away some winnable games in the process.
Led by key offseason acquisition Jordan Romano, he has posted the worst numbers among the Phillies’ relief corps. With a 12.19 ERA and 2.03 WHIP, while giving up a whopping 14 earned runs in just 10 1/3 innings of work, let’s just say Philadelphia certainly didn’t envision the former All-Star closer regressing to these astronomical levels.
Fellow offseason bullpen addition Joe Ross has also been a disappointment so far. Ross hasn’t been as bad as Romano, but with an ERA above 5.00 and two blown saves under his belt already, he hasn’t exactly earned the confidence of Phillies manager Rob Thomson in using him in key moments of a game.
To make matters worse, even the ever-so-steady Orion Kerkering has faltered as of late. In 12 appearances, he is sporting a bloated 5.23 ERA and 1.55 WHIP, along with two blown saves. As for the surprise breakout performer from last year, José Ruiz, he too has been rocky in his outings, posting a dismal 5.40 ERA and 1.60 WHIP through 11 games.
Only José Alvarado has perhaps performed up to expectations. With a 1.98 ERA, he's the only reliever with a sub-3.00 ERA while not blowing a single save all season. If only one member of the relief corps is actually doing well, let’s just say that means huge trouble for the bullpen.
The Phillies better find a way to right the ship in the coming weeks. Thomson still believes that it has been just a small sample size and that the bullpen will eventually figure it out. If so, they better do it soon. Otherwise, it won’t matter how many runs they score, or how well the starters are pitching.
The relievers finished the weekend series with the Chicago Cubs on the right foot, at least. Kerkering, Alvarado and Romano combined for three shutout innings on Sunday Night Baseball, with Romano earning his second save of the season in the 3-1 extra-inning win.
Hopefully, it's the beginning of the bullpen's turnaround. All will be lost if their bullpen continues to cost them games, and would present the biggest obstacle in the Phillies’ quest for the World Series.