What Went Wrong with the Phillies?

The FanGraphs Newsletter, October 11, 2024 [READ IN BROWSER]( October 11, 2024 Well that’s not how it was supposed to go. The Phillies came into this season as one of the World Series favorites, having won the pennant in 2022, then reached the NLCS in 2023. They were the best team in the National League for most of the year, and — having won the club’s first NL East title since 2011 — were expected to at least repeat the deep playoff runs of the past two seasons. Ideally, they’d improve on it and go all the way. Instead, they’re out on the first hurdle, having lost 3-1 in the NLDS to — and this might be the most galling part — a hated division rival who sneaked into the playoffs on the final day, then needed a lightning strike of a rally off Devin Williams to eke out a three-game win in the Wild Card series. But over four games, the Mets were comprehensively the better team. If Nick Castellanos hadn’t had his eyes glaze over white and milky as he accessed a higher plane of consciousness in the last four innings of Game 2, this could well have been a sweep. A team this talented and well-resourced would be within its rights to shrug and run it back in 2025. Indeed, that’s what the Phillies did a year ago, when they were nine outs from going up 3-0 in the NLCS, then lost consecutive would-be clinchers at home. Now, having spit the bit twice in as many playoff series, the Phillies are going to have to at least consider changing more than their postgame playlist. [READ MORE]( [Yankees Advance to ALCS Behind Dominant Gerrit Cole Performance]( | by Jake Mailhot [Cleveland Forces Game 5 With a Tightly Fought Road Win]( The Guardians now have to face Tarik Skubal with the season on the line. | by Dan Szymborski [Tarik Skubal Is a Crafty Flamethrower]( He's a turbocharged Kyle Freeland. | by Michael Rosen [White Sox Prospect Colson Montgomery Reflects on Getting Back to Where He Needs To Be]( Currently playing in the Arizona Fall League, the highly regarded prospect plans to go back to a contact-oriented approach and just let the power come. | by David Laurila [Jose Quintana's Unlikely Roll Continues]( Over the final five weeks of the regular season, no starter was stingier, and Quintana has continued to keep opponents off the scoreboard in the playoffs. | by Jay Jaffe [Unfathomable and Undeniable: Francisco Lindor’s Grand Slam Sends Mets to NLCS]( The home run was the perfect encapsulation of these Mets during their rip-roaring last two weeks. It was simultaneously unimaginable and inevitable. | by Matt Martell [All Relievers, No Runs: Dodgers Force Game 5 With Blowout Win]( Ryan Brasier, Anthony Banda, Michael Kopech, Alex Vesia, Evan Phillips, Daniel Hudson, Blake Treinen, and Landon Knack combined to shut the Padres out and extend the Dodgers' season. | by Ben Clemens 🎧 [Effectively Wild Episode 2229: Manny Happy Returns]( [DOWNLOAD THE FANGRAPHS APP]( [FanGraphs & Effectively Wild Merch Is Now Available at BreakingT!]( [ORDER HERE]( [The trends that have rocked the 2024 MLB playoffs]( by David Schoenfield, MLB [Yamamoto vs. Darvish Game 5 matchup a postseason first for Japan]( by Juan Toribio, MLB [With Yankees and Mets both headed to the LCS, ‘a fun time in New York’ awaits]( by Tyler Kepner, The Athletic ($) [Why Not the New York Mets?]( by Katie Baker, The Ringer [@fangraphs]( [FanGraphs]( [FanGraphs]( [RSS]( [FORWARD]( [SUBSCRIBE]( Copyright © 2024 FanGraphs Inc, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you subscribed to the FanGraphs Newsletter. Our mailing address is: FanGraphs Inc 3017 N Underwood StArlington, VA 22213 [Add us to your address book]( Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](