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Season Over: 14 Observations After Phillies Lose Game 4 in the Worst Possible Way
By Luke Arcaini
Published:
The Phillies lost Game 4 of the NLDS on Thursday night, eliminating them from the postseason in probably the most heartbreaking fashion you’ve ever seen.
Here are 14 observations from a gut-wrenching loss.
1: Shadows are always going to be a factor when a game starts at 3:08 p.m. out west. End of the day, it should have been more a benefit for Cristopher Sanchez than Tyler Glasnow, who is more of a fastball-dependent pitcher.
2: Dodgers fans are pathetic. Can you imagine thousands of Phillies fans getting to a playoff game late because of traffic? Figure it out!
3: Loved that get-out from Sanchez in the 3rd inning. Alec Bohm made an error, and that could’ve raised Sanchez’s pitch count a lot more, but he got Mookie Betts to ground out sharply to Bryce Harper on the next pitch to get out of it.
4: Sanchez ran into some command issues in the 5th, but he battled. Trea Turner made an awesome defensive play, and Sanchez got Andy Pages to ground out to end the inning. If you liked pitchers duels, this game was for you:
5: Brandon Marsh…woof. Just really, really bad at-bats. I know Marsh has had a good year against right-handed pitching. He’s been one of the best hitters on the team since June. But this is the postseason. If a player isn’t performing, slide him down in the lineup. JT Realmuto should be hitting 5th over Marsh. That at-bat in the 6th was one of the worst of the entire series, going down on 3 pitches with a runner on.
6: PLAYOFF. CASTY. After going down 1-2 to Emmet Sheehan, Nick Castellanos ripped a double down the left field line to score the first run of the game:
7: Turner struggled again at the plate. 0-5 with two strikeouts. The timing just looked funky and he had pretty uncompetitive at-bats. The defense made up for it, specifically this incredible diving play up the middle to start the 7th inning:
8: Rob Thomson elected to go to Jhoan Duran in the 7th with 1 out, which was the right move. Sanchez allowed two base-runners, and he started to look a little off. Duran would walk in the tying run as the bases were loaded, but get out of the inning afterward. In a game like this, you have to go to your best arms early. You can’t save Duran for “later,” because there may not even be a later.
9: A big up-down for Duran, who tossed a 1-2-3 8th inning. The Dodgers followed the Phillies, going to Roki Sasaki in the 8th. Sasaki didn’t allow a hit, retiring six-straight Phillies.
10: The Phillies started Matt Strahm in the 9th inning after Duran tossed 24 pitches after 5 outs. I thought there was a chance that Duran could’ve come back out again, but the Phillies wanted a fresh Strahm in this spot over Duran, who threw his most pitches as a Phillie in one game the two innings prior.
11: Free baseball in an elimination game, because this series wasn’t already stressful enough. The Phillies went down 1-2-3 in the 10th to Sasaki, who retired all nine batters he faced. Jesus Luzardo entered the game in the 10th. Yes, Luzardo was supposed to start on Saturday. But Saturday wasn’t guaranteed.
12: Harrison Bader, on 1.5 legs, pinch-hit for Marsh in the 11th and went down swinging after an incredible 10-pitch at-bat. I can’t stop thinking about this series with a healthy Bader. He gave it all he had when he’s obviously not 100% healthy.
13: Luzardo got 2 outs in the 11th, but the Dodgers got first and third with two outs. Thomson saw Luzardo starting to falter a little, and went to Orion Kerkering, which I thought was the right move.
14: I don’t think this came could’ve possibly ended in a more heartbreaking way. Kerkering got a comebacker with 2 outs, bobbled it, and threw past Realmuto at home plate.
The 2025 Phillies season is over. They fall to the Dodgers 3-1 in the NLDS. The story of the series is the bats. A few big innings, but putrid at-bats for the rest of the series. Doesn’t it sound familiar? Is this the end of this Phillies “era?” I don’t know. Guys like Bryce, Trea, Luzardo, and Sanchez will be back. But Kyle Schwarber, Realmuto, Ranger Suarez, and probably Bader will hit free agency.
I can’t believe that’s how eight months of baseball ends.
Luke Arcaini writes about the Phillies for Crossing Broad, covers the Phillies for FOX Sports The Gambler, and co-hosts "Phillies Digest" on YouTube. The wave is the worst thing in all of sports. Contact: lukearcaini8@gmail.com