Philadelphia Phillies’ Bryce Harper. | Matt Slocum/AP
Since their 2022 World Series appearance, the Philadelphia Phillies have tried to “run it back” win it all with stars Bryce Harper, Trea Turner and Kyle Schwarber at the core of their squad. At a combined contract value of nearly one billion dollars ($709 billion to be exact), their regular season performances were a display of talent seemingly well worth the money. Schwarber’s 56 home runs, a career high, was the most in the National League (NL). Trea Turner held onto leading the NL in batting average despite missing time due to injury. And despite having a quieter year than usually, Bryce Harper’s stats for the regular season were nothing to scoff at.
And yet, they couldn’t get the job done once again, as they have another early post season exit losing to the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 4 of the National League Divisional Series. The aforementioned billion dollar stars at the top of their starting line up had a combined one hit in fourteen appearances at the plate in that do or die elimination game. “They’re getting to the NLDS and folding because their brand offensively…doesn’t work,” said Philadelphia sports commentator Hunter Brody on the post game episode of his podcast Sports Talk With Brodes.
So how does a team with the second best record in baseball and nearly a billion dollars in star power perform so miserably in the post season? Their roster outside of the contract values and statistics may provide some interesting insight.
The Phillies are the only team in Major League Baseball (MLB) that hasn’t had a Black player on their Opening Day roster since 2022. This is a pretty astonishing feat considering the MLB is one of the most diverse professional sports with about 40% of 2023 Opening Day rosters coming from diverse backgrounds. Additionally, 18 of their 26 players rostered for the 2025 post season were white, the highest of any of the teams who made it to the playoffs.
Perhaps more diversity in the club house will indeed improve their offensive performance in the post season. Other teams’ front offices seem to understand the talent in non-white players as 49% of 2023’s top 100 prospects were non-white. With the Phillies 6th highest average age at 30.17, it might be time for Dave Dombrowski, the organization’s President of Baseball Operations, to look for a younger, more diverse group of guys.
Is this to say that diversifying the roster will automatically or inevitably improve the team? No. However, it is undeniable that MLB scouts are increasingly looking for talent in non-majority white countries such as Japan and Venezuela. In fact, the percentage of players born in mainland United States (not including Puerto Rico) has steadily decreased over the past few decades. Where in 1975, about 89% of MLB players were born in the U.S., today 50 years later that figure sits at about 73%.
Teams with notable diversity seem to be doing well as of late. The Dodgers, 2024 World Series champions, are known for rostering talent out of Japan. But they also are one of the more diverse teams, with ten of their 2025 Opening Day rostered players being born outside of the United States. The Seattle Mariners, another World Series contender this year, also have a diverse roster. For example Black veteran shortstop (and former Phillie) J.P. Crawford is one of the most respected players on their team and had a very productive year.
The 2025 Philadelphia Phillies are a far cry from the 2008 World Series Champion Phillies. In the same vein, Bryce Harper, Trea Turner and Kyle Schwarber are far from Black stars Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard along with Hawaii native Shane Victorino who made up the ‘08 Championship core—a core that seemed a closer reflection of the city the team represents with it’s diverse racial composition.
Diversifying the roster may not be a sure fix for this team’s struggles, but the 70% white roster surely is not the way to a World Series win.
As with all op-eds published by People’s World, the views reflected here are those of the author.
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