With the success of wild card teams over the last few years, there’s begun a conversation of whether the first-round bye is actually an advantage or disadvantage for teams. After Sunday’s regular season finale, Phillies’ star shortstop Trea Turner sent a clear message about the first-round bye discourse.

Trea Turner Sends Blunt Message

Since the MLB changed the wild card format in 2022 to three wild card teams making the playoffs, their success has skyrocketed. In the last three years, five wild card teams have made it the championship series or better.

In 2024, the New York Mets were the No. 6 seed and made it the NLCS. In 2023, both the Arizona Diamondbacks and Texas Rangers were wild card teams, and made the World Series, and in 2022, the San Diego Padres and Phillies were wild card teams who met in the NLCS.

All of this begs the question, is getting the first-round bye actually an advantage? Sure, the teams gets a few days off to get healthy, rest and prepare for the Division Series.

The @Phillies have #CLINCHED a fourth straight #Postseason appearance! pic.twitter.com/Q2y4xRLRol

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However, the team they’re facing could come in hot after winning the wild card series, and the first-round bye team could be rusty. The playoffs is all about who’s the hottest, and that could be a disadvantage for the first-round bye team.

Reporters asked Turner about this on Sunday afternoon, and he had a rather blunt response.

“I’ll say it until I’m blue in the face, it’s just an excuse one way or another. You have got to show up, you got to win,” Turner said. “I think Houston’s had a bye for however many years and they’ve gone on to the (Championship Series) for however many years. So, you either win or you don’t.”

The official 2025 MLB Postseason Bracket pic.twitter.com/CquVLOszjl

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Turner was not on the Phillies team that went from the wild card to the World Series in 2022. He arrived in Philadelphia the year later and was on the 2024 team that was a first-round exit after earning the first-round bye.

The Phillies’ star shortstop knows every play matters in the postseason, and the expectations in Philadelphia for the 2025 postseason.

He’s not feeding into any of the first-round bye discourse, and knows the Phillies just need to get the job done.

The Phillies will begin their 2025 postseason run on Saturday, Oct. 4 against the winner of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Cincinnati Reds.