Instant Observations from Phillies' heartbreaking season-ending loss to Dodgers originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
LOS ANGELES — There was hope leaving Dodger Stadium Wednesday night. The Phillies were reminded what they’re capable of doing and put together a complete performance with an offensive explosion and structurally sound pitching.
All the momentum was in the Phillies’ favor going into Game 4. Cristopher Sanchez was on the mound and a win would send the NLDS back to Philadelphia with a chance to advance to the National League Championship Series for the third time in four seasons.
That hope went wide and fast, as did Orion Kerkering’s failed attempt to get Andy Pages out at home in the 11th inning when the third out was right there at first base. An unbelievably frustrating error that will linger well into the offseason and beyond.
2-1, Dodgers. That’s a wrap on the Phillies’ 2025 season. One that started with so much hope to bounce back from a devastating exit last season.
This exit already feels worse.
•Rob Thomson puts Orion Kerkering in behind Jesus Luzardo twice in this series and it came back to bite them, twice. There are two outs in the 11th and one of your top arms is on the mound, how do you opt to go to Kerkering in such a high-level situation? As the final ball of the evening dribbled out to Kerkering on the mound, J.T. Realmuto was gesturing for him to throw the ball over to first base. The ball soared so far away from Realmuto that you almost couldn’t believe it. But it happened. And that’s the lasting memory people will take away from this one. Thomson said the plan was to only have Luzardo pitch one inning because he was working on short rest and when he was pushing 30 pitches with back-to-back righties coming up, he wanted to make the change. It’s a nightmare of an ending when the game was still in reach.
•Sticking with the theme of two, how do you waste two fantastic starts from Cristopher Sanchez in the same series? Two of them. Zack Wheeler is done for the season and Sanchez steps up as the club’s ace without hesitation or difficulty to adapt and you can’t find a way to score any kind of run support? Poor Sanchez. Poor Luzardo for getting the same experience in Game two. And poor Sanchez, again. This is nothing new for the Phillies. The same thing happened with Wheeler in Game One of the NLDS last year against the Mets.
•The Phillies mustered up one run in 11 innings. That’s not good enough against any team, especially one looking to repeat as World Champions. Truth of the matter is, the big bats wanted to play hero ball. There were big swings and big moments in Game 3 that were trying to be replicated. They didn’t adjust, they didn’t try to play small, it was swing for the fences and go back to the dugout. How do you expect to win a series, let alone a game, when the top three in the order go 1-for-14? The photo-finish of the Kerkering throw ending the game is what people will remember down the road … but this one was lost well before.
•Give Sanchez his flowers. Give him the whole dang garden. If Sanchez comes out next season at this level, expect to see his name in Cy Young conversations. Sanchez pitched 6.1 innings, allowing five hits and one run. You couldn’t ask for anything better.
•Circle the sixth inning as the silent killer. Outside of an early Alec Bohm error Thursday, the defense was everything you needed it to be in an elimination game. Trea Turner makes a diving catch to squash all momentum on the base paths and helps Sanchez out of his fifth consecutive scoreless inning. How does the heart of the order respond? Kyle Schwarber strikeout, Bryce Harper ground out, Alec Bohm single and Brandon Marsh being called out on strikes.
•Nick Castellanos has the potential to go down as one of the most misunderstood athletes in Philadelphia history. His honesty is unique in ways you don’t see often anymore, and because he’s in the spotlight, it gets tossed under a microscope. Of course he cares and it’s crazy to think otherwise. Castellanos sent a jolt through Citizens Bank Park in the ninth inning in Game 2 with a two-run double. He then rips one down the left field line just fair Thursday to get Max Kepler home from second. It took seven innings to get a run across the plate from either team and Castellanos gets the credit for it.
•There weren’t many holes in the lineup once the series shifted to L.A. but a surprising one has been Brandon Marsh. There were a handful of at-bats from Marsh with two outs and runners on where he couldn’t get anything going. It happened twice in Game 3 and in the first inning of Game 4. You know the stakes and getting even a single run across home plate would’ve been huge right out of the gate. Unlike Wednesday, it came back to bite the Phillies. Marsh went 0-for-7 in the final two games.
•It was a roller-coaster first year in Philadelphia for Max Kepler. There were offensive struggles, comments made about wanting to be an every day player and a turnaround that no one could’ve predicted. Kepler has come up HUGE defensively in the past two games with two diving catches that stopped the bleeding before it even had a chance to begin. Freddie Freeman led off the bottom of the second with a single and if Tommy Edman’s line drive to left had gotten past him, there’s a good chance the Dodgers go up.
•You know the definition of insanity — doing the same thing over and over again but expecting a different outcome. A picture of the core of the 2022-25 Phillies officially needs to be printed next to the definition moving forward. How upsetting it will be to look back on this core and think they never won it all. So many squandered opportunities in the most heartbreaking of ways. Moves that should’ve been made two seasons ago will now have to be made simply due to the amount of expiring contracts within the club. When the Phillies take the field in about five months, things are going to look very different.
