BY: Alex “Shaggy” Shragis
PHOTO BY: Shawn Lanzillo
A new year and new faces for the Philadelphia Phoenix, who for the third year in a row, have lost their top performing player to another UFA team. In 2025, both James Pollard and Dmitry Suvorov departed, Pollard for Minnesota and Dima for New York. This year, not only did the Phoenix lose Rookie of the Year candidate, Sam Grossberg, they also bid farewell to Sean Mott, the franchise leader in just about every statistical category, as the decade-long Phoenix pro took his talents south to DC. Nate Little, perhaps their best defender, departed for Indianapolis, joining James Pollard in the Central Division. All this leads to the Phoenix being near the top of Braden Eberhard’s biggest statistical offseason losses.
Philly fans will once again need to get used to seeing some new faces, although this year it may be familiar faces returning. Peter Burt, Dustin Damiano, Nick DiGiorgio, Matt Esser, Thomas Nye, and Dmitry Suvorov have all returned to the roster after spending one or more years away from the team. The Phoenix also continue to refill their college coffers with current college and recent graduate players. Ezra Biedler-Shenk (Pitt), Warner Brockman (Dickinson), Tyler Mackey (Rutgers), Nolan McCloskey (Brown), Spencer Whitcomb (Penn State) and Will Zamsky (Michigan State), joined the Phoenix roster this season replacing the departures of players like the Grossberg brothers and Ethan Pigeon. Philadelphia can also look for a fully healthy season from Scott Heyman. The 24-year-old vet was an MVP candidate last year until a hamstring injury derailed 2025 for him and the Hotbirds.
The Phoenix also have substantial coaching staff turnover from a season ago. Adam Callaghan has moved into the head coaching role, while the assistant coach position has been filled by Ultiworld coach of the year runner up, Harrison Schwarzer. All this means the Hotbird hopeful will need to recalibrate their expectations for the 2026 season. I was bullish on a Phoenix playoff berth last season, and the results bore out accordingly, with Philly just needing to beat Boston or New York at the end of the season to secure a playoff appearance. Of course, they did neither, but the opportunity was still there. This year, a successful season for Philadelphia looks like 5 wins.
Below is the quick hits preview for all 12 regular season games for the Philadelphia Phoenix, along with my prediction for the points spread for each of those games. For those unfamiliar with a points spread, it is a guess as to what the score will be, and you get to take one side or the other. For instance, if Philadelphia is -2.5, that means I think they will win the game by either 2 or 3 points, and you get to choose which side of that you want to be in. +2.5 means I think they will lose the game by 2 or 3 points.
Game 1: TOR at PHI (-2.5), Saturday May 2
This is the best chance for a Phoenix victory all season. Toronto has just as many departures as Philadelphia, and will be on the second day of a back to back after playing New York the night before. Philly has owned the Rush matchup, winning every game against the Canadians since 2018.
Game 2: PHI (+5.5) at CAR, Saturday May 9
The Phoenix are 1-3 all time against the Flyers, and have particularly struggled on the road, where Carolina boasts an average victory of 8.5 points. Both teams will be without their college players, a slight advantage for Philly. For Carolina, this game is sandwiched between a vitally important road trip to San Diego and slew of matchups against rival Atlanta, making this a bit of a trap game for the Flyers.
Game 3: PHI (+7.5) at BOS, Sunday 5/24
Philadelphia won 2 of the first 3 games against the Glory, and haven’t beaten them since. They have struggled in Boston especially, with a 10 point loss last year and a 7 point collapse a season ago. The defending champions are the heavy favorites.
Game 4: PIT at PHI (-3.5), Saturday 5/30
The Commonwealth Cup returns to Philly! The Phoenix have lost this bird battle just once, and should be favorites against the Thunderbirds once again. This is a fun inner-state rivalry and leads to entertaining games, even though Philly has been the victor more often than not. This is also the first game the Phoenix’s rostered college players conceivably attend, which would make for a very exciting debut.
Game 5: BOS at PHI (+4.5), Saturday June 6
It's a long shot for the Phoenix to beat the Glory, but they have played them much closer at home. Philly nearly knocked off Boston in Aston PA last season, with a lead in the fourth quarter. That said, the champs are champs for a reason.
Game 6: MON at PHI (-0.5), Saturday June 13
Philly is the slight favorite against Montreal at home, where they haven’t lost since 2019. However, the Royal are on an upwards trajectory, and likely feel robbed of a chance to win in Philadelphia after showing up with a depleted roster last season, playing their coach to get to 18 total players due to injuries — they will be out for blood, and are demonstrating it by making this long USA journey a single game, no back to back volatility for Montreal.
Game 7: PHI (+5.5) at MON, Friday June 19
Montreal has the best homefield advantage in the league, and Philadelphia got lampooned during this exact back to back in 2025. Especially if they hold the narrow victory over the Royal on June 13th, this will be a surprisingly difficult game for the Hotbirds to win.
Game 8: PHI (+9.5) at BOS, Saturday June 20
Last year, Philadelphia went into Boston after losing to Montreal the night before, and got demolished. A similar fate is in store for them this season. They’ll need every ounce of energy, strategy, intensity and spirit the coaches can get out of them for this quick turnaround to not turn into a Birdy bloodbath.
Game 9: NYE at PHI (+8.5), Wednesday July 1
New York is situated as the best team in the league for 2026, and will likely come into this game rolling from big wins against teams at the top of the league. New York also has a bye week before and after this game, leaving them nothing to do but concentrate on Philadelphia. That said, even against the 2022 and 2023 Empire, perhaps 2 of the 5 best teams in league history, the Hotbirds have always played New York close. This could be a one point game with a minute left, only for someone on the Empire — probably Alex Atkins—to rip Philly’s heart out.
Game 10: DC at PHI (+5.5), Friday July 3
Brutal schedule loss for Philadelphia, who follows up their success against DC last season by essentially playing them on the second day of a back to back after fighting the Empire two days before. The DC Philly games have always been very close, although that might have just been sheer force of will from the former Hotbird now Breeze player, Sean Mott.
Game 11: PHI (+6.5) at DC, Saturday July 11
Tough home and home for the Phoenix to play DC in consecutive weeks to end the season. DC may have their playoff positioning locked up at this point, and as we saw last season, if the Breeze don’t care about the result of the game they are liable to let it get out of hand (DC lost by 10 to Philadelphia at the end of 2025). The Breeze are still heavy favorites.
Game 12: PHI (+10.5) at NYE, Friday July 17
Incredible run for Philly, who will end the season at Boston, vs New York, vs DC, at DC, at New York — their five hardest games of the season backloaded. The Phoenix will go into this game thinking they will win it. Heck, I may go in writing that they will win it. It will be a disaster, particularly if the previous meeting was close. Historically the Phoenix get one good game against New York a year, not two.
Come back every Thursday for Shaggy’s take in the Hotbird Huck, breaking down each week of play for the Phoenix.
