Kyle Schwarber has been one of the biggest reasons the Phillies have dragged themselves back into the race, and he’s not pretending otherwise.
Philadelphia opened the 2026 season in a rough spot, stumbling to a 9-19 start before steadying the ship. Now the club heads into the All-Star break just two games behind the first-place Atlanta Braves, and Schwarber said the turnaround has left the team in a strong place.
“We feel pretty good about where we're at,” Schwarber said. “Especially from where we started.
We were 9-19 to start the year off. Lot of adversity kind of happened… They let (manager Rob Thomson) go, then we turned it around and put ourselves in a really good position.
I think we're only a couple games out of the division lead.”
That shift has come with Don Mattingly taking over as interim manager, and the Phillies have been playing much better baseball over the last couple of months. The early-season mess gave way to a team that has climbed right back into the mix.
Schwarber has been at the center of it on the field. He’s hitting .254/.367/.560 with a .927 OPS and a major league-leading 32 home runs.
Shohei Ohtani is the clear favorite for National League MVP because of what he does both on the mound and at the plate, but Schwarber still has a case to be in the conversation as an NL MVP finalist. He finished second in NL MVP voting last year, and that kind of finish is in play again.
The timing only adds to the buzz in Philadelphia, with the city hosting both the Home Run Derby and the MLB All-Star Game this year. Schwarber, who is taking part in Monday’s Derby, talked about what that means for the fans at Citizens Bank Park.
“Just for us here, it's gonna be so freaking cool just to see all of the fans here tonight,” Schwarber said. “We get to see it on a pretty regular basis, what they bring electricity-wise to us. For it to be on display for the national stage is going to be pretty cool.”
Philadelphia’s fan base has never needed much of an excuse to show up, and with the All-Star spotlight shining on Citizens Bank Park, there should be plenty of familiar red in the stands.
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Schwarber worked through a slow start before finishing with 10 home runs, while Harper put together some loud contact of his own but came up just short of the mark he needed to keep moving. The result sent Schwarber on to the next round and ended Harpers night early, adding another layer to a derby pairing that already carried some history for Phillies fans to remember. [Read more 🡒]