The Philadelphia Phillies secured a 7-3 victory over the Washington Nationals on opening day. Despite the victory, the Phillies were forced to go into extra innings due to the struggles they had on offense. Philadelphia ended the game 3-for-11 with runners in scoring position and struck out 19 times as a team.
Following the game, third baseman Alec Bohm commented on the teams' strikeout problems on opening day. According to Phillies insider Luke Arcaini, Bohm said, "You can't see the ball, that's why we struck out 30 times. We should probably stop playing at 4:00 so there's a good product for people that come to the stadium"
"You can't see the ball, that's why we struck out 30 times. We should probably stop playing at 4:00 so there's a good product for people that come to the stadium"
— Luke Arcaini (@ArcainiLuke) March 27, 2025
- Alec Bohm on the shadows
Alec Bohm Provides Shocking Explanation for Phillies' Strikeout Woes
Not only are Bohm's comments an exaggeration of what happened, but it's also a bad excuse. Sure, playing in the shadows is tough and definitely affects the way hitters see the ball, yet it isn't a new thing, as they have to deal with it every season.
That said, there is a more logical reason for the team's struggles at the dish on opening day. To begin, they were facing Nationals ace MacKenzie Gore. Facing a team's ace is always a challenge, but it's even more so on opening day when bats aren't exactly warmed up.
Of course, spring training is meant to get players back in the swing of things. However, sometimes it takes teams a few games to get going in the regular season.
Nonetheless, the Phillies still came out victorious. Hopefully, Philadelphia can fix their opening-day plate woes throughout the rest of the opening series.