Marlins division rivals may not have a championship core

The Philadelphia Phillies were eliminated in the National League Division Series this season. They are planning to contend in 2025, but it certainly looks like the team's best days may be behind them. As weird as it might sound at first glance, their 2022 and 2023 playoff runs may have been this particular core's peak. This is good news for the Miami Marlins, considering the team's issues.

Miami Marlins division rivals may have missed on their opportunity to win it all.

There's little worse than a team spending a lot to build a winning core, only for that locked up core to not be good enough to win the World Series. The Miami Marlins need to build a winning core too, but the Philadelphia Phillies seemingly already did. They won the pennant in 2022 and were one win away from a second straight one in 2023. This season they were eliminated in the NLDS, but the core will be back for another run in 2025.

There are major warning signs with Philly's core. Let's start with ace Zack Wheeler. Wheeler is certainly not in decline. He's coming off of a NL Cy Young contending season. He pitched to a 2.57 ERA/3.13 FIP, with 10.1 K/9 and 2.3 BB/9 in 32 games and 200.0 innings pitched. The problem is that he'll be 35 years old next season. Most players start declining in their mid-30's, so it's certainly unlikely that Wheeler has many good seasons left in him.

C JT Realmuto is already 33 and in decline. There's already talk of him moving away from playing catcher. RF Nick Castellanos has just not been very good. He's coming off of a .254/.311/.431 batting line in 2024 and doesn't seem to be on any track to improvement.

SS Trea Turner has actually declined in WAR for the last few seasons. He declined from 5.2 in 2022, to 3.4 in 2023 and finally 3.0 in 2024. At 31, he's still in his prime, but he may not be the final piece that Philly thought that he was. He had a bit of a power decline and overall just doesn't seem to be the player that he was a few seasons ago.

Aaron Nola just isn't the ace that they thought he'd be. He's been inconsistent and has not delivered for the team in the playoffs. There are no definite proven arms that can be a solid #2 behind Wheeler, if Nola has another season similar to 2023. That season he pitched to a 4.46 ERA/4.03 FIP in 32 games and 193.2 innings pitched. This season he had a better 3.57 ERA, but an unimpressive 3.94 FIP in 33 games and 199.1 innings pitched. It's unlikely that he'll put up ace numbers in 2025.

I just don't see this Philadelphia Phillies winning the World Series any time soon. The Miami Marlins need to be more careful when building an actual winning core.