The pressure is on. After two straight playoff implosions in 2023 and 2024 — following a World Series loss in 2022 — the Phillies are running it back and are hoping to prove that their highly paid and highly talented roster has what it takes to be champions.
Philly will enter 2025 with the fourth-best World Series odds, behind the juggernaut Dodgers, Yankees and division rival Braves. They are tied with another rival in the Mets (at +1100 via FanDuel).
The NL East will be the division of death this summer, but the Phillies believe they have what it takes to defend that title.
As we do every season, as players work out and play exhibition games in Clearwater, we'll check in and tell you the prognosis and expectations for every player we expect to make the roster.
We'll continue today with the bullpen, where mostly familiar faces will be returning in relief roles…
Scouting report
The Phillies bullpen was good, not great last year. It boasted some extremely impressive singular performances, but also was lacking a bit in depth and consistency beyond the big four of Matt Strahm, Jeff Hoffman, Carlos Estévez and Orion Kerkering.
A look at the unit's numbers from 2024:
| Category | Stat | MLB rank |
| Total IP | 903.0 | 4th fewest |
| ERA | 3.81 | 7th |
| Batting avg. against | .239 | 16th |
| K to BB ratio | 3.00 | 4th |
| Save percentage | 66% | 9th |
| Inherited runner score | 35% | 24th |
| WHIP | 1.216 | 8th |
Strahm and Kerkering will return for 2025, but Hoffman (2.17 ERA in 66.1 IP) and Estévez (2.57 ERA in 21 IP) will not, each leaving in free agency. In their places, the Phillies brought in swingman veteran Joe Ross (3.77 ERA in 74 IP) who can start and relieve, and Jordan Romano (All-Star in 2022 and 2023) looking to bounce back from a bad 2024 in Toronto.
The Phillies' bullpen is not lacking in flamethrowers, and their identity could be in their ability to fire really hard to hit stuff in relief of one of the better starting rotations in the sport. Four guys in the pen averaged over 96 mph with their heater last season (via statcast, minimum 250 pitches thrown):
| Pitcher | 2024 Velo | MLB rank |
| José Alvarado | 97.8 | 15th |
| Orion Kerkering | 97.6 | 34th |
| Jordan Romano | 96.4 | 81st |
| José Ruiz | 96.4 | 81st |
Placing the team's All-Stars and dominating regular season pitching (at times) aside, the real lasting legacy from the 2024 Phillies bullpen was their performance against the Mets — a disgusting 11.37 ERA laden with collapses and mistakes in key spots leading to a premature playoff exit.
In addition to helping the team make the playoffs in the summer, this unit is going to be under intense pressure to hold it together come October.
Role playing
Here's a look at the Phillies likely bullpen makeup for 2025:
• Closer: Phillies manager Rob Thomson likes to go based on matchup and the hot hand. Eight different relievers got at least one save for the Phils in 2024. Kerkering would ideally seize the 9th inning role, he's got the temperament, talent and is young — hoping to carve out a lucrative career ending games. He'll probably share time closing games with Romano and Strahm, depending on the matchup.
• Setup: The traditional late innings setup situations will probably go to Kerkering or Romano against righties, and Strahm and Alvarado against lefties.
• Middle relief: The Phillies seem likely to bring Tanner Banks and Ruiz, a righty and lefty respectively, onto the 26-man roster as arms that will be utilized between the 5th and 7th innings when a starter has an early exit from a game.
• Swing man: Ross is an interesting player for the Phillies this year, and he is currently being stretched out to start in spring training just in case an injury forces him into the role. The former National has started 86 games in his career but pitched well in Milwaukee last year out of the bullpen. He'll be able to do a little of everything.
• Mop up/Long man: Taijuan Walker, with a competent performance this spring, should be able to earn the final bullpen spot (he is getting paid $18 million this year either way). If he pitches well he certainly can see himself in more important spots later in the year, but to start, he'll be getting mop up duties.
Phillies' future
We already took a look at some of the depth and the bevy of arms competing for a spot in the bullpen this season and you can read about it here. It's possible that spring training games will give fans (as well as scouts and coaches) a look at potential bullpen contributors in future seasons.
It's also expected that many of the team's depth arms will be called on at some point in 2025 — the team called on 22 different pitchers in relief last year (not including Garrett Stubbs, Weston Wilson and Kody Clemens who each pitched). Of those, 18 tossed 10 or more innings for the team.
Some pitchers to know, who could find themselves in South Philly over the next eight months include Koyo Aoyagi, Tyler Phillips, Max Lazar, Devin Sweet and Nick Vespi.
There are also some prospects in the pipeline who may have what it takes to make an impact this season — or down the line — in Michael Mercado, Seth Johnson, Mick Abel, Christian McGowan, Andrew Baker and Wen-Hui Pan (all among the team's top 30 prospects via FanGraphs).
Phillies season preview
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