Opening Day is officially in the rearview mirror. The Philadelphia Phillies opened the 2025 MLB season on a high note, picking up a hard-fought 7-3 victory over the rival Washington Nationals on Thursday. The effort marks the all-important first win on the Phillies' path to winning three straight NL East titles for the first time in over a decade.
Although opening the new season 1-0 is a great feeling, the Phillies' Opening Day win wasn't without some frustration. A handful of Philadelphia players had some forgettable performances at Nationals Park on Thursday afternoon, including one veteran who had a terrible excuse for his miscues.
Phillies RHP Jordan Romano Has Weak Excuse for Opening Day Struggles
Even though the Phillies beat the Nationals, they nearly didn't because of reliever Jordan Romano. After Philadelphia entered the eighth inning with a 3-1 lead, the club's offseason acquisition proceeded to surrender two earned runs on one hit in a single inning of work, allowing Washington to tie the game.
It was an uncharacteristic performance from Romano, who was an MLB All-Star in two of the three previous seasons. While an injury or illness would've been an acceptable excuse for Thursday's poor showing, the 31-year-old righty has since admitted that it was nerves that got the best of him.
"Yeah, I'd say so," Romano admitted about nerves causing him to lose control, per On Pattison's Tim Kelly. "(It's) Opening Day. (I) settled in and felt like myself but (I) need to be better for sure."
From @TimKellySports: Jordan Romano says he's 'gotta be better,' discusses correct pronunciation of last namehttps://t.co/piz74NhZet
— On Pattison (@OnPattison) March 28, 2025
A lot of athletes go through nerves, regardless of how long they've been playing their respective sport. Those nerves are usually amplified when someone joins a new team, which is what Romano is experiencing upon joining the Phillies after spending the previous 10 years in the Toronto Blue Jays system.
Having said that, using nerves as an excuse for nearly costing the Phillies an Opening Day win won't fly in Philadelphia. Romano is making $8.5 million this season because the Phillies were confident in his ability to close out games, whether it's at the end of March or the start of October. At the end of the day, he must be better than he showed.
Hopefully, Romano puts his poor showing behind him and focuses on improving. The 2025 season is supposed to be a bounce-back year for the Markham, ON native, who's coming off a disastrous performance that saw him pitch to a 6.59 ERA and 1.463 WHIP across 15 relief appearances with the Blue Jays last season.
He did post back-to-back MLB All-Star campaigns in the two seasons before that, though, leaving time to tell if his 2024 struggles were an anomaly or not.
Romano's next opportunity to rebound will potentially come during Saturday afternoon's clash with the Nationals. Things are already looking promising for the Phillies, who FanDuel Sportsbook is listing as the -144 moneyline favorite (59.0% implied probability) less than 24 hours before the NL East showdown.
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