Phillies' Problems are Obvious to Everyone Except One Person

The Philadelphia Phillies find themselves in a 1-0 hole heading into Game 2 of their Wild Card Series against the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday, a matchup which is now an elimination game for Don Mattingly's club.

The Phillies will be sending Cristopher Sanchez to the mound against Tyler Mahle, so Philadelphia should certainly like its chance better than the opener when it faced Braves ace Chris Sale.

Regardless, the Phillies have enough problems where having Sanchez toeing the slab may not even matter in the end.

Take Tuesday afternoon, for example.

Jesus Luzardo absolutely pitched well enough to win the game. Five innings, one run, six strikeouts. Just three hits and one walk.

The problem is that Philadelphia didn't follow suit as a collective.

The Phillies managed six hits on the day, generating three runs. They went 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position, with the only hit coming from J.T. Realmuto, who delivered a two-run triple in the seventh inning.

The bullpen was a disaster, giving up four runs. Alex McFarlane surrendered one, and Jhoan Duran (of all people) allowed a three-run blast to Austin Riley.

Such has been the case for Philadelphia all season long, and the entire fanbase has seen it. The only person who has turned a blind eye to it? Team president Dave Dombrowski.

Yes, the Duran implosion was an outlier, but it should be noted that Mattingly felt the need to call upon the closer in the seventh inning because he had so few options available.

But as for the lack of offense and the shaky relief pitching as a whole? Yeah, you can pin that on Dombrowski, whose idea of patching up holes last winter was signing Adolis Garcia and Brad Keller — both of whom are out for the season.

The injuries aren't Dombrowski's fault, but depending on Garcia — who was non-tendered by the Texas Rangers — and Keller was the issue.

If the Phillies do end up losing this Wild Card matchup against Atlanta, Mattingly will be gone. That much is a given. But will Dombrowski actually address the real problems?

Philadelphia fans were screaming for outfield upgrades last offseason. They were shouting for more bullpen depth. What did they get? What you're seeing now.

The duo of Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber is no longer enough, and that should have been clear to Dombrowski after the Phils were bounced from the NLDS for the second straight October last fall. Heck, Dombrowski especially should have known considering it was he himself who said Harper was no longer elite before the 2026 campaign.

Nevertheless, the Phillies mostly sat on the sidelines last offseason.

Dombrowski has long been a good executives. He delivered championships for both the Miami Marlins (back when they were still Florida) and the Boston Red Sox. He got the Detroit Tigers to a World Series. The Phillies, too, in 2022.

History indicates that he knows what he's doing. But it seems pretty evident that in recent years, his savvy has abandoned him. And that's beyond frustrating for a Philly fanbase that is starving for success.

Everyone can see the problems. Everyone except Dombrowski himself.