Instant observations: Dodgers outlast Phillies, end season in epic extra innings duel

They went down fighting, but they went down.

The Phillies' season is over after the offense ran out of runs, losing 2-1 in Game 4 of the NLDS in Los Angeles a night after providing some hope in an eight-run rout to stay alive. The pitching was dazzling, but the hitting wasn't, as the Dodgers outlasted Philly in 11 innings.

The ending was brutal, as an error on a pretty routine ground ball lifted the Dodgers to victory. We'll spare you from having to watch it again, but if you didn't see it, trust us, it was bad.

Over the weeks and months to come, the chatter will be intense. Why can't this team win in the postseason after winning 96 games? What's wrong with the bats? Is Rob Thomson built to manage in the postseason?

The Dodgers outplayed the Phillies even though they were perhaps a less talented team. Here's a look at the good, the bad and the ugly from the last game of the 2025 Phillies' season:

The good

• Cris Sánchez may have been a relative unknown before the start of this postseason, but he's a secret no more. The Phillies' de facto ace with Zack Wheeler on the shelf was an anchor on the mound through five innings Thursday, going toe-to-toe with L.A.'s Tyler Glasnow. He flexed some postseason muscles in the sixth, as the Dodgers finally threatened. With poise, Sánchez got out of the jam by fielding a weak grounder off the bat of Tommy Edman.

Sánchez returned for the seventh but surrendered a hit and a walk and was replaced by Jhoan Duran (more on that in a bit). In all he scattered seven base-runners and was tagged for just one earned run. One run allowed in an elimination start that stretches into the seventh inning — can't ask for more than that.

• With just one hit in the series heading to the plate in the consequential seventh inning — the bloop double in Game 2 that got the Phillies back in it — Castellanos hadn't done much in L.A. But a double ripped down the right-field line scored Max Kepler and got the Phillies on the board first as the pitcher's duel reached the latter stages of the game.

Nick Castellanos and the @Phillies strike first in LA 💪 pic.twitter.com/wXJt6WVSyC

— MLB (@MLB) October 10, 2025

Say what you want about his lackluster defense and his issues during the regular season, the guy does have a knack for the dramatic (his infamous home runs during tragedies are one example), and he's hit more than his share of clutch hits during his time with the Phillies. No doubt that double to get the Phillies ahead with their season on the line deserves to be remembered among them.

• Yes, Alec Bohm did make an error in this game but it didn't lead to a Dodgers run. Besides that, the Phillies' infield defense was spectacular in this series. Bryson Stott and Bryce Harper each made impressive plays with runners on base, but the highlight came in the fifth inning when Trea Turner took a hit away from Kiké Hernandez:

Lay out, Trea! pic.twitter.com/Yqxram1c0r

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) October 9, 2025

• That's all we've got for you. This was a brutal loss, as brutal as they come. On to the bad stuff…

The bad

• The Phillies' stellar pitching could only last so long. In the 11th inning, tied at 1, Jesús Luzardo gave up a pair of hits to set the table for a Dodgers' walk-off with runners at the corners. Orion Kerkering took the baseball and walked Hernandez to load the bases (yet again).

The ending couldn't have been more painful. Andy Pages weakly grounded back to the pitcher's mound, and Kerkering, unsure of where to fire the ball, overthrew home plate. The Dodgers walked off to the NLCS, where they'll face the winner of the Brewers-Cubs next week.

Kerkering will now become one of the most scoffed-at players in Philadelphia sports history. A throw to first easily gets the runner out and sends it to the 12th inning.

• Saves, as defined statistically, don't matter in the playoffs. Which is why Rob Thomson called on his closer in the seventh to get out of the Sánchez jam. Duran doesn't often enter games with runners on base, but with two men on, Thomson signaled four fingers — sending Shohei Ohtani to first with the free pass to load the bases for former MVP Mookie Betts. Duran couldn't find the strike zone, walking in the tying run.

What a killer decision. Ohtani has been ice cold all series long, but his reputation earned him the intentional walk, and that managerial choice from Thomson is one that will be questioned just like his decision to bunt in a one-run game with no outs in Game 2. Luckily for the Phillies, Duran struck out the next hitter to keep the score tied.

Just how rare was that walk to Betts? It's just his fourth (not intentional) walk since joining the Phillies.

• Due to Harrison Bader's groin injury, Brandon Marsh has started all four playoff games thus far and has played center field in his stead.

There have been a few plays that Marsh missed in center, including a triple early in Game 3 that he dove for unsuccessfully. A healthy Bader might have taken a better route to catch the Betts line drive, or might have known to play conservatively and hold him to a single.

Marsh has also been a liability at the plate. He's platooned all year for a reason, as he's pretty dreadful against lefties and a .300 hitter against righties. On Thursday, against righty Glasnow, he stranded runners at corners in the first inning, squashing a chance for the team to really build some momentum on the road. He was up with a runner on first two more times and failed to reach base. He went 1-for-12 in the NLDS and hit in the five-hole in Game 4.

The ugly

• Baseball is an easy sport to nitpick. The action happens in fragments, with time between pitches to anticipate and deliberate and break down decisions. Thomson made a lot of them and wound up having a monumental influence over this series.

His ultimate fate with the Phillies is surely unknown, as he's been one of the best regular-season skippers in franchise history but never seems to pull the right levers when it matters most. But the players need to own this one. There were runners on base a lot in this series and the Phillies couldn't seem to get it done in key spots — like they did way back in 2022 en route to an NL pennant.

It's about focus and about producing, and besides Game 3's offensive onslaught, the near $1 billion John Middleton spent on the middle of the batting order didn't step up. And that throwing error, it wasn't on Thomson or Dave Dombrowski.

This was a really fun baseball team and the city loves it, but it isn't good enough. J.T. Realmuto may be gone next season, Ranger Suárez is a free agent, and Kyle Schwarber will be looking for upwards of $30 million a year on the open market. With some talented youngsters knocking on the door, things will look different this spring. They have to. It was a fun ride, and it could have gone differently. The players have only themselves to blame.

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