Can the Philadelphia Phillies really win with this version of Kyle Schwarber?
The Philadelphia Phillies have won seven games in a row and have really separated themselves in the National League Wild Card race, but problems still remain.
Yes, the Phillies have had plenty of one-run magic this season, and the trade deadline acquisition of Luis Arraez has provided a massive offensive spark.
But Philadelphia is still not getting much production from its best slugger: Kyle Schwarber.
After going 0-for-4 in the Phillies' extra-inning win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday night, Schwarber is now slashing just .197/.330/.408 in the month of August. He has four home runs on the month, and strangely enough, they came in a pair of multi-homer games.
Otherwise, Schwarber has been in the middle of a severe power outage that has seen him leave the yard just four times since July 19. Think about that for a second: there have only been two games Schwarber has homered over the last month-plus.
That is absolutely wild for a guy who has bashed 40 long balls in three of the last four seasons and has racked up 37 of them here in 2026.
Philadelphia Phillies designated hitter Kyle Schwarber. Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images.Schwarber has been nursing a back issue dating back to June, an ailment that caused him to miss a couple of games. The lefty DH avoided an IL stint, but you have to wonder if the Phillies made the right call there, as he managed a pedestrian .743 OPS in July.
Perhaps even more alarming is the fact that Schwarber's walk rate has dipped drastically. Over the last eight games, the 33-year-old has walked just twice over 38 plate appearances. That's a walk rate of 5.3 percent, nearly 10 percentage points below his lifetime average of 14.2 percent.
Philadelphia is winning games now because it has been getting production from unlikely sources, such as Alec Bohm, for example. It also helps that Bryson Stott has rebounded from a horrific start to the season, and Arraez is obviously great.
That's all well and good.
But make no mistake: the Phillies absolutely, positively cannot win a World Series — or even advance far in the playoffs — with this current version of Schwarber.
It's obvious that the four-time All-Star is severely compromised, and at this point, there is probably nothing Philadelphia can do to fix it.
A trip to the injured list is out of the question right now. The Phillies are in the closing stretch of the pennant race. They can't afford to not have his presence in the lineup, even in his current watered-down state.
But unless Schwarber is able to rediscover his home-run stroke come October, Philadelphia is definitely going to be in some trouble.
