Phillies once again fall short in playoffs after successful regular season: ‘They’re two completely different animals’
LOS ANGELES — Nick Castellanos and J.T. Realmuto sat next to each other in the visitors’ clubhouse at Dodger Stadium and spoke one-on-one. The two talked for a while. In what could have been some of their final moments together as Phillies teammates, there was time to reflect.
The loss — or at least the way it unfolded — was unconscionable. With the bases loaded in a tie game in the bottom of the 11th inning, reliever Orion Kerkering bobbled a tapper back to the mound and threw it over the catcher Realmuto’s head at the plate. The Dodgers walked off with the National League Division Series in a 2-1 Game 4 stunner on Thursday night to end Philadelphia’s season.
“Tough situation, obviously,” superstar Bryce Harper said. “We want to win, and we want to advance to the NLCS. It’s a really good team over there, and we went toe-to-toe today. Pretty heavyweight fight back and forth and things like that. Really good pitching, obviously, and they came out on top.”
This was supposed to be the year the Phillies proved that last October was a fluke, a chance encounter with a buzzsaw Mets team. But just like 2024, they lost in four games in the NLDS after earning a first-round bye. The 96-win record did not matter against Los Angeles. It couldn’t make the lineup hit when it needed to in three of the four games. It couldn’t plug the bullpen’s holes.
The Phillies are talented, with a starting rotation that seemed up to the task in the playoffs — even without ace Zack Wheeler. But the issues that have plagued the club in postseasons past popped up once again. The team will have an offseason to think about why its regular-season success could not translate into postseason results.
“When this happens, it’s like your entire world comes to a stop,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “It’s just a thud. It’s just not a good feeling. It really isn’t. Especially, regular season we were really good. We had a lot of wins. We expected a lot more.”
The weight of expectations can be crushing, and the disappointment of not meeting them can be devastating. Slugger Kyle Schwarber, an impending free agent, kept his faith as the Phillies fell into an 0-2 hole in the NLDS. That made it all the more difficult to handle the eventual series loss. Schwarber’s bottom lip quivered as he spoke to reporters about the possibility of not returning to Philadelphia, where he’s blossomed into one of the premier power hitters in the major leagues over the past four years.
“I felt like our group, even though we were down two games, I just felt like we had a group that we’ve shown that we’ve been able to overcome a lot of different things,” Schwarber said. “And I felt really deep down in my heart that this was a team that was going to do it and overcome that.”
The Phillies did overcome adversity during the year. Reliever José Alvarado was suspended for 80 games and banned from the playoffs. Wheeler was diagnosed with a blood clot then underwent surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome. Other players stepped up as the Phillies secured their second straight NL East title.
Ultimately, that resilience only went so far. After winning a Game 3 in Los Angeles, Philadelphia’s offense scratched across only one run in Game 4 on a Castellanos RBI double.
“The regular season is not the postseason,” Castellanos said. “Me now, being in the playoffs now six times or whatever, they’re two completely different animals. The season is one thing. Your talent can get you to the playoffs, but once you’re in the tournament, it’s completely different. And I think that as a whole organization, once we get into the tournament we’ve regressed over the last four years.”
The right fielder is correct. The Phillies cracked the postseason with 87 wins in 2022, then got hot and made a surprise run to the World Series. They won 90 games in 2023 and fell to the Diamondbacks in the NLCS. In 2024, they won 95 games and lost in the NLDS to New York. A one-game increase in the regular season this year resulted in another early exit.
What’s the reason for that trend?
“The first thing I’m going to do is: I’m always going to point to myself and what I can do better,” Castellanos said. “And then anything else besides pointing at myself would be my opinion, and I’m not here to give my opinion on the rest of the organization. It’s not my job.”
While it might be above Castellanos’ pay grade, the team officials whose jobs it actually is to have opinions and make decisions within the Phillies organization will have to reckon with that question. There could be a lot of moving parts in Philadelphia this winter. Big pieces like Schwarber, Realmuto and Ranger Suárez could leave in free agency. Castellanos could be a potential trade candidate following the worst full year of his career. Maybe the Phillies consider making a change at manager.
There’s a lot of uncertainty heading into the offseason, not the least of which is whether or not this club can rekindle its playoff form of old.
“I can’t speak on the uncertainty part, because it’s uncertain,” Castellanos said. “But I do know that we’ve had four chances to win a World Series, and we were the closest in 2022, and then we fell shorter, and then we fell shorter and we finished the exact same as last year. It’s unfortunate, because I think that we have the most talented team in baseball.”