For a good portion of last year, the Philadelphia Phillies looked like one of Major League Baseball’s best teams, poised to make a deep playoff run and avenge the prior two seasons, which saw them bow out in the World Series and National League Championship Series, respectively. The team sent a franchise-record eight players to the All-Star Game in July and by the time the season ended a few months later, the Phillies had captured their first division title since 2011.
But, keen observers and diehard fans knew the team wasn’t playing its best baseball heading into the postseason and their biggest fears were realized when the Phillies appeared largely lifeless for most of their divisional round playoff series loss to the hated longtime rival New York Mets.
For a team with such lofty expectations, it was a tough pill to swallow for fans who have now seen the team exit the playoffs earlier each season since their improbable 2022 World Series run. That disappointment also resonated deeply with the players throughout the clubhouse.
“The sour taste from last year never goes away,” says Trea Turner, the star shortstop who signed an 11-year, $300 million contract with the Phillies in December 2022.
Upon his arrival with the Phillies, Turner was viewed as a missing piece to add to an already impressive core of players that includes Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber and Zack Wheeler. But, with the talented group yet to realize their championship aspirations, the stinging loss from last year is serving as fuel for the team as they embark on another season full of hope and promise.
“We know we are good enough, but it’s about playing well at the end to be that last team standing,” says Turner. “We have a good group of guys; we hate losing and I think that fire is always going to be there. That is the clubhouse we have. It’s going to be a long year, but I don’t think anybody is over last season and how it ended.”
With the Phillies once again performing as one of the best teams in baseball during this early part of the 2025 season, we had the chance to speak with Turner one-on-one to learn more about his time in red pinstripes, becoming a father for the third time and how he went from idolizing the game’s stars to becoming one of them.
When you’re part of a team this talented, does it add an extra layer of pressure to reach the goal of winning a World Series or is it more motivating in a sense?
It’s both. I feel like certain things are magnified when you have a team like this. Maybe the media and the outside noise is a little louder, but at the same time I think the guys in the clubhouse are excited. This is what we play for, this is what keeps us going, this is why we work so hard for so long to have a chance at this. I think it gets us fired up. We love it and I think we have the right guys to meet that challenge.
Other teams around the league made very splashy offseason acquisitions that grabbed the headlines, but you guys added some key pieces as well. What are your thoughts on the new guys and how they’ve helped the team thus far?
I think that we’ve kind of flied under the radar with what we’ve done. We obviously already had a great core and it’s not like we needed to do anything major, just adding those right pieces and trusting Dave [Dombrowski] and [the front office] to put the team together and give us the ability to win. They’ve done that for the three, four years now, so I have all the faith in the world in them. I like the guys we got, they’re great people and they’re great competitors, and that’s the way this team is built so they fit in perfectly. We trust them to play big parts and they are excited to join us.
The standing ovation you received a couple years ago during a slump is certainly a moment that people like to talk about, but now that you’ve been here for a couple seasons what has your experience been like playing in front of the Phillies fans?
It’s awesome. It’s definitely different when you’re on the other side, but playing in front of them every day, it’s exciting. The adrenaline and energy they bring each and every day makes those games more intense and more fun for us to play in.
Playing at home is unbelievable and the postseason is amazing as well, just watching the fans get on the other guys. Like I said, I was on the other side, so now having that energy directed to the other team is funny, I laugh quite a bit. It’s fun to give them something to cheer and root for. When we play well, our fans are making it that much harder for the other team. It’s been a lot of fun and I am excited for another year of action and excitement.
The team is so close-knit as well, which I’m sure is not always the case around the league. Is there a carryover effect to the field when you have guys who are so well connected away from the game?
Without a doubt. I think all that stuff is organic. There’s always new players, but I think when you keep that core group of guys, it helps bring those new guys in faster. We haven’t had a lot of turnover, which is great. I think hanging out off the field is [beneficial], and not every team does that all the time, for numerous reasons. Here it seems like we are always trying do stuff together and I think that says a lot because we see each other every day—we are with each other more than our families. It makes the season a lot more enjoyable and I think the fans can see that.
Taking Citizens Bank Park out of the equation, what are some of your other favorite parks to play in?
Usually wherever I hit good is what I would say. But I always think San Diego, the ballpark is really cool and the weather is beautiful. And then the historic ones, Dodger Stadium, Wrigley [Field], [Fenway Park in] Boston. Some of those older stadiums are always fun to play in; you grew up watching them on TV and then being in the middle of the field is a whole other perspective.
Your alma mater North Carolina State, led by your former coach, made a run in the College World Series last year. How impressed were you with what they were able to accomplish?
We don’t have the highest recruits and best facilities per se, but every year since I’ve been there we’ve put a pretty competitive team on the field and made some pretty good runs in the postseason. It’s not easy to do in the college game, it’s hard. Especially now with NIL and all the turnover, it’s hard to keep that chemistry and a program steady. I tip my cap to them. These are the same coaches that coached me and they know how to develop players and it’s fun watching them play.
Of course you have another special connection with NC State and the late Jim Valvano as you and your wife Kristin are big supporters of The V Foundation for Cancer Research. Why is that cause so near and dear to you both?
We always wanted to donate and give back. Early in my career, I would see older guys making a difference and I wanted to do the same thing. But I felt like it had to be something that has an effect on you. My wife and I were on the couch watching ESPN and it was Jimmy V week and we kind of both looked at each other and said, let’s do that. Within the last eight years or so, we’ve done more and more with the V Foundation. I do a little event once a month at the stadium to get some patients and employees from a local hospital out to a game to enjoy themselves and take their minds off of things. It’s kind of grown and we are doing some stuff now at NC State as well. Last year was the first year we did something there, but we had a game where all proceeds went to cancer research and I think we are going to continue that. We are trying to help more and more people and make a difference.
Congratulations to you and your wife on the recent birth of your third child. How are your wife and the baby doing?
Everyone is good. She’s a little busy with three kids and I am working now, but she’s been good. She’s great with them and they are all great kids.
Having the baby right before the season had to be a little chaotic for you guys.
Yeah. But probably better before than during.
Who were some of the players you idolized growing up?
[Derek] Jeter and [Ken] Griffey [Jr.] were my two favorites. I was a baseball fan though, I liked a lot of shortstops and I was a big Marlins fan growing up. I liked a lot of the speed guys, so you know I always liked those faster players—Ichiro [Suzuki], Juan Pierre and other guys who made a difference with their legs. And then A-Rod [Alex Rodriguez], Jeter, Griffey; the superstars just like anybody.
Fast forward and now you’re one of the game’s stars. Do you ever reflect on the fact that now there are so many kids wanting to be like you?
I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to that. It still feels weird to me. When you are in it, you don’t notice it, but then when you take a step back you are like, this is kind of crazy. I don’t know if I will ever get totally used to it, but it’s nice seeing the younger generation look up to you. That’s where I was and it made me want to play the game and made me want to work harder and try to get there. So if I can have that same effect on younger players, I think that is pretty cool.
You talked a lot this spring about getting back to feeling comfortable at the plate and avoiding some of the prolonged stretches of frustration you’ve encountered since joining the Phillies. Do you feel like that approach has served you well?
It’s just a matter of finding out why [those bad stretches are happening] and making sure it doesn’t happen. Hitting the ball the other way and striking out less are always good starters for what I call a higher floor; making sure those bad stretches are still decent. I think if you are putting the ball in play and using the whole field, it’s a good start. My swing feels really good and I think it’s a matter of getting the timing down and being in a good spot ready to go.
You’ve accomplished a lot in this league, but do you feel that your best baseball is still in front of you?
Yes, I always feel like that for the most part. That’s the competitor in me. I always think I can do it better, learn from my mistakes and just keep evolving. I don’t know if that will ever change, so I like to be optimistic since I always think I can do better. I feel like that is the key, but at the end of the day you have to go out and prove it. I’m excited to play baseball and I like being here every day.
I know you, like a lot of your teammates I’m sure, were plugged into the Eagles Super Bowl win. What are your reactions to watching them do what they did to the Chiefs?
I was a little disappointed because I wanted a good game, but at the same time I couldn’t have been happier. Not only because of being in Philly, but the team seems like such a good football team and they played a great game. And they have good people too. When you listen to interviews with all the players and coaches, you kind of see how many good people are in that locker room and the total team package they have. Hopefully that is us this year.
The ultimate goal is always to win the World Series, but that is more realistic for some teams more than others. Certainly, the Phillies are built to win now, so do you embrace that challenge confidently knowing you guys have the pieces to put the puzzle together?
Yeah. I feel like a few years ago, we were kind of the underdog, but now you kind of have to learn to be the frontrunner or the team that is expected to win. It’s a bit of a learning curve, but we’ve had a couple years now where we are expected to win. It’s not necessarily the expectations or anything like that, it’s more about executing. And we have confidence in ourselves to be better than the other team, so we just need to execute. A lot of teams are talking this time of year about who’s going to win, but it’s a long season and there’s only one team that gets to finish [on top]. That’s our goal and it’s not going to change, and we’ve got the right guys, like I said.
What would it mean to be able to achieve that goal with this group of guys?
It’s a little indescribable. I’ve won [the World Series] before and it’s almost like a dream. There are some guys here who have gotten super close, but there’s nothing like winning. Once you win one, you want to win again, so I think everybody has that mindset. We want it just as bad as our fan base and we are pulling on the same rope. Nobody would party as hard as us. We want it and that’s all we are thinking about.\
