The Phillies are off to a great start.
They're 7-2, jumped to the top of the NL East right away, and just took two of three in a statement of a series win over Shohei Ohtani and the defending champion Dodgers.
It's still early into the season, for sure, but so far promising aside from a few rough areas.
Zack Wheeler looks stellar as always, Jesús Luzardo has been lights out as the new addition to the rotation, Edmundo Sosa is hitting with a hot bat, Kyle Schwarber is up to four home runs already, and Nick Castellanos belted a grand slam on Sunday on the way to closing out Los Angeles, who was undefeated before this past weekend.
Oh, and now the Phillies have the Braves for a three-game set beginning Tuesday night, and they've been abysmal to start.
The Phillies have made some early noise, and the larger baseball world has definitely taken notice.
Here's a look at this week's wave of power rankings…
MLB.com: 2nd
The Dodgers series is at the crux of the Phillies holding a consistent spot near the top, whether it's above the Dodgers or right behind them, but part of what made that weekend so monumental early on was what surrounded the field as much as what happened on it.
Bryce Harper, unlike his team, got off to a slow start in 2025, at the plate, anyway. But Harper came out swinging with the quotes as always, with this classic: "I don't know if people will like this, but I feel like only losers complain about what [the Dodgers are] doing." Hear, hear, Bryce. [MLB.com]
Harper homered in the Opening Day win over the Nationals, but that has been his lone one so far. He's batting .278 with a .767 OPS, and went 2-for-4 on Sunday, which included the RBI knock that chased Tyler Glasnow out of the game just prior to Castellanos' grand slam.
So maybe not so much slow, just quieter from Harper than we've been used to.
The Athletic: 2nd
Again, taking the Dodgers series was huge, and so was Luzardo setting the tone in the opener on Friday when he shut L.A. down for seven scoreless innings and eight strikeouts.
There’s a lot going right for the Phillies. Kyle Schwarber has been a monster, Zack Wheeler has been as good as ever, Edmundo Sosa has been awesome off the bench and the bullpen has picked up the slack for struggling closer Jordan Romano. But the defining moment in this strong start to the season has been taking two out of three from the Dodgers over the weekend, and that series started with Luzardo going seven scoreless innings in the opener. Two starts into his Phillies career, Luzardo is 2-0 with 19 strikeouts and a 1.50 ERA. The rest of the rotation (other than Aaron Nola) has also been excellent, but Luzardo was the team’s biggest offseason addition, and he’s had an immediate impact, including that early season statement against the defending world champs. [The Athletic]
The Phillies didn't have a particularly splashy offseason on paper, but trading for Luzardo, at the very least, was always going to add depth to their rotation.
The early returns, though, have it looking like a Zack Baun-level steal.
MORE: Luzardo throws 'well-executed' gem in statement win over Dodgers
Bleacher Report: 3rd
The Phillies jumped right into the Dodgers series, so maybe lost in the shuffle a bit was that Taijuan Walker put in an excellent outing to close out Colorado.
It's important to keep in mind, though, because so long as Ranger Suárez is out, Walker's turn is going to come back around again.
The Phillies made a statement over the weekend by taking two of three from a Dodgers team many have been quick to put in a tier of its own atop the baseball world, proving they belong in the top-tier contender conversation as well. A terrific first start of the season from Taijuan Walker (W, 6.0 IP, 3 H, 0 ER) was a pleasant surprise, as he only broke camp with a rotation spot after Ranger Suárez landed on the injured list. [B/R]
CBS Sports: 1st
The Phillies are up out of the gate, and the Braves are way behind.
The two will start their first series of the season tonight, and it's a chance for the Phillies to really put a dent in Atlanta's ambitions early.
There's obviously another major threat in the division (no, not the Marlins), but the Phillies are already six games up on the Braves and now travel to Atlanta with the chance to put the Braves nine games behind them. Even this early in the season, that's a big deal. [CBS Sports]
The Braves are bad (for now) and it's awesome, as our own Shamus Clancy wrote. He also wrote about the division rivalry and the weight of this week's series HERE.
FOX Sports: 2nd
The Dodgers were untouchable…until they got to Philadelphia.
The Dodgers looked like an indomitable force until a trip to Philadelphia, with the series finale Sunday getting decided late in a back-and-forth slugfest. With the addition of Luzardo, who has 19 strikeouts through two starts and just held the Dodgers scoreless for seven innings, this rotation has the makings of something special. [FOX Sports]
Of note, megastar Shohei Ohtani went 1-for-11 through this past weekend's series with five strikeouts.
He was caught stealing by J.T. Realmuto in a pivotal spot on Friday night, then on Sunday, Cristopher Sánchez K'd him three times.
MORE: Edmundo Sosa needs to play more, left field could be the Phillies' answer
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