Sep 24, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies short stop Edmundo Sosa (33) and outfielder Kyle Schwarber (12) celebrate a victory against the Miami Marlins at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
When Kyle Schwarber hits two homers in a game, it's usually the big story offensively.
Not Wednesday.
That's because Edmundo Sosa - yes, Edmundo Sosa - outdid Schwarber, and impressed the hell out of the Phillies MVP candidate.
"He just goes up there and he's got that boogie whip to him," Schwarber said of Sosa. "Seeing the way he was working while he was on the I.L., it felt like he was ready to go right off the bat."
That "boogie whip" was on display not once, not twice, but three times for Sosa.
Edmundo Sosa, hours after coming off the IL, has homered three times!
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He became the first Phillies shortstop to hit three home runs in a game. His three homers were part of a Phillies franchise record eight home runs in a game as the Phillies defeated the Miami Marlins 11-1, and in doing so, locked up a first round bye in the NL playoffs.
The Phillies will open the postseason on Saturday Oct. 4 at Citizens Bank Park in Game 1 of the NLDS against one of the two Wild Card Series winners, depending on seeding.
It was the second of their team goals that they checked off the list after locking up the N.L. East last Monday in Los Angeles.
What made Sosa's performance even more amazing is, as Schwarber said, he had not played in 12 days dealing with a mild groin strain.
Sosa was originally supposed to come off the I.L. on Tuesday, but the Phillies decided to hold him out for one additional day to get him swings as part of a live batting practice off a pair of minor league pitchers - Daniel Harper and Andrew Walling - who the Phillies brought in to help Sosa and Trea Turner, who is working back from a hamstring strain, get their timing back.
"I want to thank the guys from the minors that came out for the live B.P. yesterday," Sosa said through an interpreter. "They allowed us to get some good swings. Some good at bats. I want to thank them for being available to us."
Maybe that's all Sosa needed to get back in the groove after a couple weeks. But what a smooth groove it was. Likely the smoothest of his life, as far as power goes. Because, this was a first for him, at any level.
"Never," he said. Not in the Little League or the minors. ... It's just an amazing feeling. An incredible feeling."
As incredible a feat as Sosa's outing was, Schwarber also made some baseball history.
The first of his two home runs came off of Milwaukee lefty Ryan Weathers. It was Schwarber's 23rd home run off a left handed pitcher this season. That's the most ever by any left-handed hitter off of left-handed pitchers in the history of the sport.
"It's a pretty cool stat," Schwarber said. "There's been a lot of hard work put into that behind the scenes. It kind of takes you back to 2020, getting non-tendered (by the Chicago Cubs) and then you sign a one-year deal and get with a good hitting coach (Phillies hitting coach Kevin Long, then with the Washington Nationals), and he kind of comes up with a plan and attacked it, and it just felt like that's kind of grown over the years."
Schwarber is now at 56 home runs this season. Only 15 players all-time have hit that many in one year. He is two shy of tying Ryan Howard's franchise record of 58 set in 2006.
Kyle Schwarber might just mess around and hit 60. 💣
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And he will be given every opportunity over the final four games of the season to break it.
"Ryan Howard's a great player, he really is, and I have a lot of respect for him," said Phillies manager Rob Thomson. "It would be nice to see Schwarber break it. He's had one heck of a year and he's a heck of a person. Records are meant to be broken."
But what if these last four games have no meaning? Wouldn't it make sense to give Schwarber a game off?
"I think I'll talk to him, but I think I'll give him a chance to break it," Thomson said.
If the Phillies have nothing to play for this weekend and Rob Thomson asks Kyle Schwarber if he would rather chase the HR record or have a day off, what would he say?
(Via @TimKellySports) pic.twitter.com/YXUygDzgGg
Aside from Sosa and Schwarber, the Phillies got homers from Bryson Stott, Alec Bohm and Otto Kemp.
It was the 36th time in MLB history that a team hit at least eight homers in a game. The fourth this season. The Yankees hit nine twice this year.
The All-time record is 10 by the 1987 Toronto Blue Jays against Baltimore. The NL record is nine set by the Cincinnati Reds - against the Phillies - at Veterans Stadium in 1999.
The previous Phillies record was seven, done four times, most recently on August 28 against Atlanta. That was the game Schwarber hit four dingers.
All-told it was an exclamation point for the team on a successful regular season. Although they aren't done.
"It (all) came on a really important night," Thomson said. We secured the bye and that's like winning a playoff series. But we still have more to do. Milwaukee hasn't clinched (the No. 1 seed) yet, so we got to keep playing."
The Phillies are 2 1/2 games behind the Brewers, with four to play, but they need to finish ahead of Milwaukee, because the Brewers hold the tiebreaker.
That means one more Brewers win, or one more Phillies loss, and the seeds are set - Milwaukee would be No. 1 and the Phillies No. 2.
The Phillies wrap up the series with the Marlins on Thursday and the Brewers are off. So the Phillies can keep the pressure on with a win against Miami.
The Phillies host the Minnesota Twins this weekend while the Brewers host the the Cincinnati Reds, who are a game behind the New York Mets for the final Wild Card spot.
So, while unlikely, it's not inconceivable, which is why the Phillies won't take their foot off the gas this week just yet.
"We want to finish strong and we want to finish healthy, that's goal number one," Schwarber said.
