Dodgers vs. Phillies: Five things to know, prediction as two of MLB's best teams meet for early season series
Two of baseball's top teams will meet this weekend at Citizens Bank Park when the 5-1 Philadelphia Phillies host the 8-0 Los Angeles Dodgers for three games. The Dodgers (98-64) and Phillies (95-67) had the two best records in baseball last year and there is every reason to believe they will be among the league's best teams in 2025 as well.
"We've got a really good rotation. We've got a really good lineup. We've got a really good bullpen," Phillies manager Rob Thomson told Phillies Nation in February when asked about the Dodgers' big offseason. "So we'll match up fine."
Here are the details for this week's three-game series in Philadelphia. Saturday and Sunday's games can be streamed regionally on fubo (try for free).
Three premium pitching matchups, which is no surprise seeing how these two teams might have the best two rotations in baseball. Sasaki has labored in his first two big-league starts (MLB-leading nine walks in only 4 2/3 innings) and Philadelphia is not exactly a welcoming place for a jittery rookie. That said, few pitchers in the game have as much arm talent as Sasaki.
Here now are five things to know about this weekend's Dodgers vs. Phillies series at Citizens Bank Park, with a prediction thrown in, because why not?
1. The Dodgers are off to a historic startAt 8-0, the Dodgers have the most consecutive wins to begin a season by a defending World Series champion in baseball history. Shohei Ohtani's walk-off home run Wednesday gave Los Angeles the record. Here are the longest winning streaks to begin a season by a defending champ:
Eight straight wins to begin a season are L.A.'s most since the 1955 team started a franchise best 10-0. That was the Dodgers' third-to-last season in Brooklyn. The last team to begin a season with a nine-game winning streak was the 2023 Tampa Bay Rays, who tied the record with 13 straight wins. The last National League team to start 9-0 was the 1982 Atlanta Braves (13-0).
2. Freeman will miss the seriesDodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman, last year's World Series MVP, will miss this weekend's series with the Phillies. He was placed on the injured list Thursday with an ankle injury that he suffered in a shower "mishap" recently. It is the same ankle that hobbled Freeman throughout the postseason last year. He initially suffered the injury stumbling through first base in September. Freeman had surgery in the offseason and was brought along carefully in spring training.
With Freeman sidelined, the Dodgers have been playing utility man Enrique Hernández at first base. Max Muncy can also play first, if needed. The Dodgers have not yet announced a timetable for Freeman's return. He is eligible to be activated next Thursday (April 10). He's for sure out this weekend.
3. The Phillies have hammered bullpensIt has been an unusual start to the season for the Phillies' offense. They have not scored a single run in the first three innings of a game this year. But, in the sixth inning and later, they've scored 23 runs. That's in six games. Look at the offense's starter/reliever splits:
| PA | AVG/OBP/SLG | HR | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
vs. SP | 143 | .275/.296/.341 | 1 | 4 | 30 |
vs. RP | 94 | .361/.511/.806 | 8 | 21 | 16 |
Is there a flaw in Philadelphia's offense? A reason they can't hit starters but can bludgeon relievers? Eh, maybe, though I'm willing to chalk this up to small sample size a week into the season. I'm certain the Phillies would like to do a better job scoring early in games and playing from ahead though. Waiting until the late innings to score every night makes for stressful baseball.
4. The Dodgers have had issues with leftiesIn what is almost certainly something else we can blame on sample size, the Dodgers have not been as productive against left-handed pitchers as they have against right-handed pitchers in the early going. That's notable with two southpaws, Luzardo and Sánchez, scheduled to start for the Phillies this weekend. Here are L.A.'s platoon splits:
| PA | AVG/OBP/SLG | HR | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
vs. RHP | 195 | .252/.354/.521 | 12 | 25 | 47 |
vs. LHP | 95 | .198/.263/.430 | 6 | 6 | 18 |
I reckon a lineup with powerful right-handed hitters like Mookie Betts, Teoscar Hernández, and Will Smith will solve lefties soon enough. Possibly as soon as Friday against Luzardo. Through eight games though, the Dodgers have really fattened up against righties. Their offense hasn't been nearly as productive when there's a lefty on the mound.
5. Who's hot, who's not?The season is only a week old and it is still too early to tell which hot starts are legitimate breakouts and which slow starts are worrisome signs of decline. One week in, all we have are some players performing well and some players performing poorly. That's baseball, and we have weeks like that all season, except everything gets magnified this first week.
With the caveat that we're still sorting through what's real and what's small sample size noise one week into the season, here are three Dodgers' hitters who gotten off to hot starts this year:
| PA | AVG/OBP/SLG | HR | RBI | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
24 | .368/.500/.737 | 1 | 4 | |
Shohei Ohtani | 37 | .333/.459/.667 | 3 | 3 |
Will Smith | 28 | .450/.607/.650 | 1 | 5 |
Smith enters play Friday as the league's leader in batting average and on-base percentage. Betts has also started the season very well (.300/.364/.750 with three homers) despite an illness that caused him to miss the Tokyo Series against the Chicago Cubs and lose about 25 pounds. He is healthy now and tearing the cover off the ball.
On the other end of the spectrum, Hernández (.105/.100/.421) and Muncy (.120/.214/.200) haven't really gotten going yet for the Dodgers. Hernández is running an aesthetically pleasing AVG > OBP batting line thanks to zero walks and one sac fly. Here now are three Phillies' hitters who've swung the bat well in the early going this season:
Schwarber has four home runs, the rest of the Phillies have five, and no one else has more than one. Bryson Stott is off to a nice start as well (.278/.381/.556). Bryce Harper has been just OK (.269/.296/.423) and Trea Turner has been slapping singles and taking walks, but is still searching for his first extra-base hit of 2025 (.308/.400/.308). Edmundo Sosa filled in for Turner as he missed a few games with back spasms, and the Phillies' top bench bat has a .600/.625/.867 slash line to start the season in 16 plate appearances.
No Phillies regular is hitting below Nick Castellanos' .238 and none are hitting higher than Schwarber's and Turner's .308. No one is in a deep slump to begin the season and, other than Schwarber's four homers, no one is going nuclear either. The production has been spread out a bit more evenly across the lineup than it has been for the Dodgers in the super early going.
PredictionL.A.'s season-opening winning streak comes to an end Friday, and the Phillies will take two of three this weekend. I'll say the Phillies win Friday and Sunday, the two lefty starter games, and Sasaki turns in the best start of his young MLB career to give the Dodgers their only win of the series on Saturday. He'll go five innings and strike out at least eight.
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