Mar 4, 2025; Clearwater, Florida, USA; Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler (45) walks off the field against the New York Yankees in the first inning during spring training at BayCare Ballpark. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images Nathan Ray Seebeck
"MLB The Show 25" will be released globally on March 18. If you're looking for an accurate representation of the Phillies in the game, prepare to be disappointed.
As noted by Phillies Tailgate on X, Sony released the top five players from each team heading into 2025. The ratings weren't what you might expect:
MLB The Show reveals their Top 5 Ranked Phillies for 2025. pic.twitter.com/4MljOwiKNB
The biggest takeaway from the top five is that apparently not everyone has an appreciation for just how good Zack Wheeler has been since joining the Phillies in 2020. Over the last five seasons, Wheeler is second in innings pitched (829 1/3) and first in WAR (24.7), per FanGraphs. He's finished runner-up twice in NL Cy Young voting, including last season. He has a 2.18 ERA and 0.73 WHIP across 70 1/3 postseason innings pitched. Tarik Skubal and Chris Sale are among the other pitchers who have legitimate cases, but you could definitely argue Wheeler is the best pitcher in baseball right now.
And yet, Sale (94), Skubal (94), Paul Skenes (93), Blake Snell (92) and Tyler Glasnow (91) are ranked higher, and Sonny Gray has a matching grade of 90. Shohei Ohtani is 99, but obviously that's not based solely (or primarily) on his pitching. What's crazy is Wheeler had a 93 rating to begin last year. It's not exactly like he got worse in 2024.
Perhaps the biggest takeaway here is that starting pitchers aren't properly rated in general. Bryce Harper deserves to be a 95. Wheeler should probably be at least that same ranking, if not higher. Other pitchers in the game who ranked too low include Michael King (86), Dylan Cease (85), Corbin Burnes (86), Zac Gallen (84), Logan Webb (89), Sandy Alcántara (78), Hunter Green (83), Garret Crochet (85), Cole Ragans (87), Seth Lugo (86), Framber Valdez (85), George Kirby (89) and Logan Gilbert (88). We don't know the ratings of Aaron Nola, Cristopher Sánchez and Ranger Suárez, but they are all under the 83 mark that Bryson Stott received. We can debate how high, but all three should probably be above that.
The game also seemingly snubs Kyle Schwarber for not being as well rounded from an attribute sense as some other players. But Schwarber has 131 home runs and 318 walks since joining the Phillies in 2022, both of which are third among all MLB hitters during that period. That's not to say Schwarber should be a 99, but his combination of power and patience at the plate feels worthy of something like an 88.
In the end, video game ratings don't matter. They especially don't matter in 2025, when ratings can be updated throughout the season. This isn't like when you bought "MVP Baseball 2004" and you were stuck with what the ratings were in April for the entire year. Still, it feels like the algorithm needs to be changed, because these ratings don't accurately represent the Phillies.
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