The Phillies are headed to Los Angeles on the brink of elimination, down 0-2 in their National League Division Series against the Dodgers.
The Phillies went six innings with just one hit against Dodgers starter Blake Snell, but launched a doomed comeback attempt in the ninth inning, pulling the score to 4-3, but not without a few controversial decisions from manager Rob Thomson.
Now, the team is one loss away from their second consecutive NLDS exit. Here’s what people are saying about the Phillies …
Jimmy Rollins schools Phillies on baserunning
Thomson’s decision to have Bryson Stott attempt to bunt Nick Castellanos over to third in the bottom of the ninth — and move the tying run 90 feet from home plate with no outs — was one of the most controversial decisions of the game.
After Castellanos’ two-run double made it a 4-3 game, Stott laid down what appeared to be a perfect bunt. But Castellanos was picked off by a charging Max Muncy at third for the Phillies’ first out of the inning, and ultimately, the Phillies lost the game.
» READ MORE: Rob Thomson’s bunt call, Dave Dombrowski’s NLDS roster killed Phillies in Game 2 | David Murphy
Was it Thomson’s fault for calling the bunt? Should he have called on a pinch runner?
Postgame on TBS, former Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins broke down why the play failed, and what Castellanos should have been looking for as a baserunner in that situation.
“As a baserunner, you have to see what’s going on,” Rollins said. “Mookie isn’t really holding him on, he’s just standing right there behind him. What I didn’t like about his lead is Castellanos went straight out. You’re always taught at second base, when you take your lead, you walk toward the shortstop.”
“At that position, you can feel Mookie, you can hear Mookie. When Mookie moves, you move with him. There’s no force play at third, he has to tag you at third. They’re giving up second base, I can get as far as I can because no one’s going to be at second base for the back pick. I can always get back. He didn’t do that, he was just sitting there almost like there was no game plan.”
Of course, the Dodgers executed a perfect “wheel play” — that they called during a pitching change — to bait the Phillies into bunting, even though they knew what was coming and how they could defend against it. Here’s Rollins’ full breakdown of what was a pivotal out late in the game.
‘He probably would have hurt himself’
So, should Thomson have pinch-run for Castellanos? On the NBC Sports Philadelphia postgame show, former Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. and Michael Barkann fought it out over the manager’s decision, which was complicated by the need to use a pinch runner for Harrison Bader, who was out of the starting lineup with a sore groin but still came on to pinch hit and delivered a single after the failed bunt attempt.
“He could not have pinch run the guy because he had to hold on Bader,” Amaro Jr. argued. “Bader could not run the bases.”
“Ruben, I would’ve let Bader walk,” Barkann replied. “Let him walk to second! The run scores.”
» READ MORE: ‘The writing’s on the wall’: Phillies face elimination after their billion-dollar bats go silent again | Marcus Hayes
“He would’ve been done if he had to run,” Amaro Jr. said. “He probably would have hurt himself.”
After the game Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman pointed to Castellanos’ lack of speed as one of the reason’s they decided to execute the wheel play.
“That’s been on our mind to bring that [play] out in that situation, and that was just the perfect time to do it,” Freeman said. “Nick, obviously, is not Trea Turner running, so we had a better chance of that. That’s what we were gung-ho on that wheel play. … Everything was just perfect on that play.”
We’ll never know how things might have played out if Thomson had let Stott swing away against lefty reliever Blake Treinen — the Phillies second baseman has done it before in a big spot — or if he opted to pinch run for Castellanos.
What we do know, however, is that the Phillies bats, especially their big-money hitters, hadn’t inspired much confidence. And we’d probably never be talking about any of this if a pair of their sluggers came through an inning earlier.
» READ MORE: If there is to be an epic comeback, the Phillies need Bryce Harper to don his Red October cape again
‘Those guys aren’t doing anything’
On The Ringer’s Philly Special podcast, Sheil Kapadia said the game felt like it had been lost in the eighth inning, when Schwarber and Harper both failed to get a hit with a man on base.
Schwarber and Harper each went 0-for-3 with a walk on Monday. Schwarber went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in Game 1, while Harper went 1-for-4. In the past, Harper and Schwarber have been known as playoff performers, who have risen to the occasion, but they’ve failed to do so in 2025.
“Schwarber has a .905 OPS in 35 playoff games with the Phillies, so you can’t say he’s the one that never comes through,” Kapadia said. “Harper I think had the 5th highest OPS in baseball history in the playoffs going into this series, but it feels like it’s been different … This year, those guys aren’t doing anything, and it is killing you in these games.”