Marcus Hayes

The Phillies can’t make Kyle Schwarber, J.T. Realmuto, Ranger Suárez, or Harrison Bader return, but the fate of the PED guy was firmly in their hands. Same with Mr. Congeniality.

Topper realizes he could have made better decisions in the NLDS loss to the Dodgers: "I could sleep a little bit better."

Dazed and confused, in his last five playoff games, all losses, he’s 0-for-18. In his last six games of 2025, he's 0-for-21 with 13 strikeouts. It began in 2023 in the Game 6 loss to the Diamondbacks.

Did he leave starter Cristopher Sánchez in too long? Did he use the old guy wrong? Did he put his lefty reliever in a bad spot? Fairly or not, Topper will hear about it until Game 2 on Monday.

Topper worked miracles in 2025, and he'll be a lame duck in 2026. Extend him now, in case the Dodgers roll over the Phils in the NLDS and folks start calling for his head.

Maybe the coach's exuberance is what keeps the fractious Eagles together ... Like Jose Canseco, Green Bay and Dallas join the 40-40 club... "I will [bleep] up your world!" — Robert Saleh to Liam Coen.

The Birds are decided favorites to win the NFC, and effectively tied with the Bills and Ravens among the favorites to win it all. But the sledding will be tough early in the season.

No Andrew Painter, Kyle Schwarber booming, and a clutch-hitting deficit: What the Phillies showed us lately

Now that the club knows its ace will be sidelined perhaps well into next season, it can adjust for now and plan accordingly for later.

Since the ace went down, we've seen good situational hitting, solid defense, and smart baserunning. The Phillies have scored 40 runs during a four-game win streak.