LOS ANGELES — The bottom lip on Kyle Schwarber’s face quivered as he faced the harsh reality, forced to reckon with the fact that he may have played his last inning of Philadelphia Phillies baseball. The slugger helped usher in a new era in franchise history when he arrived in 2022, a magical season that ended in a World Series appearance.
Since then, Schwarber has grown and developed into one of the most feared power hitters in all of Major League Baseball. The Phillies, meanwhile, have shifted from the plucky upstarts into supposed championship contenders, with expectations as high as any team around.