While The Phillies had an overall great season, they faced different struggles over the past months. From injuries to struggling players, this is the Phillies season history.
After the previous season ended some players signed with different teams, one of the most notable is Jean Segura, who signed with the Miami Marlins for 2 years and $17 million. The Phillies also signed a big name, Trea Turner. He signed with the Phillies for an 11-year $300 million contract.
They also traded away Matt Vierling, Nick Maton, and Donny Sands to the Detroit Tigers for Gregory Soto and Kody Clemens. During Spring Training a devastating injury occurred, Rhys Hoskins tore his ACL in his left knee, which meant he was out for the season.
In April, fans had really high expectations for the 2022 NL Champions. But to start off the season, the Phillies were swept by the Texas Rangers. During those games, they only scored a combined 11 runs. The 1st win of the year was game 1 of the series against the New York Yankees, the score was 4-1. During the home opener of the season, it was postponed due to rain, but the team did end up with a 5-2 win.
The Phillies traveled to Los Angeles to face the Dodgers next. In the first game, they were beaten 14-3. Then for Game 2 the biggest story of the day; Bryce Harper would return as a DH, but the game ended with a second blowout, the score being 13-1. The Dodgers ended up sweeping the Phillies in this series. Towards the end of the month against the Atlanta Braves, Kraig Kimbrel picked up his 400th career save. So far, their record was 25-30.
In the beginning of June, the Phillies were overtaken by the Mets. They then had their 5th consecutive loss to the Nationals, the score was 8–7. Things were not looking good for the Phillies, then they won the last 2 games in Washington. There were fantastic performances from pitchers Aaron Nola, Taijuan Walker, and Zach Wheeler. With the help of these players, the Phillies defeated the Detroit Tigers.
They then faced the Dodgers for the final time this season, Kyle Schwarber hit a walk-off home run in Game 1. The 6 game-winning streak that they had going on came to an end the next game when Nola and the offense struggled in a 9–0 loss. But, they took the series the next day with a 7–3 win.
To start off July, the team was looking pretty good; They only had 3 losses out of the 8 games played before the All-Star break. The Phillies had 2 All-Stars this year: Nick Castellanos and Kraig Kimbrel. Unfortunately, Trea Turner and Bryce Harper had a horrible start to the season, being Turner’s worst start to date. For a doubleheader, the Phillies decided to call up outfielder Johan Rojas. Rojas made a spectacular catch, which turned into a double play. From this point, the Phillies record was 57-49.
August 1st, also known as the Trade Deadline, is the final day to trade players. The Phillies traded left-handed pitcher Bailey Falter to the Pittsburgh Pirates for infielder Rodolfo Castro. They also traded Hao-Yu Lee to the Detroit Tigers for starting pitcher Michael Lorenzen. On August 4th, the Phillies fans decided to give struggling player Trea Turner a standing ovation, he hit an RBI single. The next day, he hit a 3-run homerun. Since then he has been fantastic.
On August 9th, Michael Lorenzen made his first start at home for the Phillies. Then he did one of the most important things a pitcher could do. He threw a no-hitter. On August 30th Bryce Harper hit his 300th career home run. The team ended August with a club record of 57 home runs.
September rolled around and the Phillies were holding on to the 1st wild card spot, and the 2nd spot in the NL East standings. Then on the 26th, the Phillies clinched a wild card spot. Later on, they found out that they had clinched the number 1 seed. Their last game was October 1st, and they finished strong, 9-1. They finished the regular season with a 90-72 record. Specifically, a 49-32 home record, and a 41-40 away record.
The postseason arrived. The Phillies swept the Miami Marlins in the NL Wildcard. The first home run of the postseason for the Phillies came from J.T. Realmuto. Then the iconic Bryson Stott grand slam. When Stott’s famous walk-up song was playing, all you could hear was the crowd singing it.
They then won the series against the Atlanta Braves 3-1 (3 wins, 1 loss). This was the 2nd year in a row that they beat them in the NLDS. But in the NLCS they were sadly and unexpectedly beaten by the Arizona Diamondbacks. During the NLCS they played their 1st Game 7 in franchise history (The organization has been around for 141 seasons). They lost 4-2 in game 7.
From the ups and downs, the injuries, and the struggling players, this was the Phillies season history. The Phillies hope to make it to the playoffs again next year and hopefully go all the way to win the World Series.
