👋 Good morning! Except it isn’t, it’s a terrible morning.

I will put the last six days, Saturday to Thursday, up there with any terrible sports stretches I have ever witnessed. Sure, there were bleak years like 2015 when you watched Chip Kelly burn the Eagles to the ground, Ryne Sandberg resign from coaching the dreadful Phillies and Jahlil Okafor lead the Sixers to ten wins. But that was one long slog, not gut-punch after gut-punch with legitimate stakes.

This past week, though? Waking up this morning, I want to be one of those guys you meet at parties that is really into architecture, or birding, or Ken Burns documentaries (OK, I am a big KB fan, can’t wait for the American Revolution doc) that “does not like sports.” Those guys probably had a great Thursday.

But no, this is the life we have chosen. And with the highs — I mean, we did experience a Super Bowl win this past year, it’s not all bad — you also sign up for the lows. We will be alright, dear reader, you and I. But man, right now, this absolutely stinks. — Rich Hofmann

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When Orion Kerkering picked up the baseball, Hyeseong Kim was 30 feet from home plate and Andy Pages was 55 feet from first base. It would not have been an easy play, but it was more than doable. But there was only one play to make. J.T. Realmuto was pointing and, I assume, telling Kerkering that the ball had to go to first base.

Well, you already know. It did not go to first base. It went to the backstop.

And the Phillies season was over, just like that. One of the most excruciating games I have ever watched, ending in the most excruciating fashion possible.

Our live reaction is here. Post-game show is here.

Let’s circle back to the Kerkering play, because that is not the primary reason why the Phillies lost this series: They primarily lost this series because the offense, and particularly the high-priced stars. were not close to good enough. If the offense had performed even a little better, Kerkering would have never pitched in Game 4.

Baseball is such a ridiculous sport. Over the last six months, which is the best measure of a team and what the players primarily get paid for, Trea Turner and Kyle Schwarber were both spectacular. They are both gonna receive MVP votes. Bryce Harper did not have his best season, but he was still quite good in 2025. But for the bulk of the last six days, the most important six days in this ridiculous sport, all three of those guys were legitimately bad. Here is what they combined to do…

Not good enough. Not close to good enough. In particular, Harper should be bummed about his approach in this series. Way too much hero ball from him, way too much getting himself out.

It was not just those guys that struggled, though. Bryson Stott and Brandon Marsh did nothing. Nick Castellanos, who did ironically have the lone RBI in what will likely be his last game as a Phillie, did very little as well. This lineup missed a ton of challenge pitches in the zone over the last week, and on Thursday, they even reverted to some of their chase-happy ways. It was slightly different how it happened this time, but this is the third straight October that the Phillies lineup was the main culprit for their exit.

When you force your pitchers to be absolutely perfect because you cannot score any runs against an (admittedly excellent) opposing pitching staff, it is not a winning formula. Jhoan Duran walking Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts gets magnified because the Phillies lineup can’t score. Orion Kerkering only happens because the Phillies lineup can’t score. That is hard to accept, but it’s what happened.

The Phillies’ pitching was nothing short of incredible in this series. I thought losing Zack Wheeler would sink their season, and while Wheeler could have spun a gem, they got incredible starting pitching without him. The entire pitching staff held Shohei Ohtani to 1-18, Mookie Betts to 4-17 and Freddie Freeman to 3-15.

Excellent work by Cristopher Sánchez, Jesús Luzardo, Ranger Suárez and Aaron Nola. Fellas, the rest of the team, but especially your offense, failed you.

And because that pitching was so good, the Phillies still could have very much won this series despite their punchless offense. Some other things that contributed to the loss…

Rob Thomson, pressing wrong buttons: It’s legitimately uncanny.

Going to David Robertson for a second inning in Game 1, especially after making all that noise about Ranger Suárez being available in the lead-up, is gonna bother me all winter. “The Bunt” will live in infamy for years. And then the decision to intentionally walk Shohei Ohtani, which is one where I can see the logic either way, also blew up in Topper’s face. Again, it’s uncanny.

I like Rob Thomson. I do not think it’s his fault that his star hitters did not show up this week. I also am very tired of seeing his decisions blow up in his face every October.

Organizational decisions: Why was Tim Mayza on the NLDS roster? The Dodgers took an extra position player than the Phillies did, and guess what, Hyeseong Kim was able to scurry home for the series-winning run. In Game 2, the Phillies did not have anyone to run for Nick Castellanos.

Of course, that was because of…

Harrison Bader’s injury: A legitimate disaster, any way you slice it. Brandon Marsh now had to hit against lefties and play a shoddy center field. Nick Castellanos now had to play every day and play a shoddy right field. And to pinch-hit Bader, the Phillies also needed to have an extra base runner available just in case he got on. Just a killer development, and it happened in Game 1.

Some pretty bad injury luck for the Phillies this year. I also wonder if that hamstring injury in mid-September messed with Trea’s timing.

Infield defense: This was not night-and-day, because the Dodgers made a few mistakes as well. But especially in Game 2, it’s hard not to think of the stark contrast between Turner’s throw to the wrong side of home plate and the Dodgers executing the wheel play correctly. Turner’s throw might have been a four-run mistake.

And, oh yeah, the Kerkering play. That was infield defense.

The umpiring: My blood is still boiling that Alex Call did not get rung up in the seventh inning of Game 4. An incredibly bad miss. The only runner that the Dodgers scored in nine innings, with two outs mind you, was a dude who unequivocally should not have made it to first base. That sucks!

Orion Kerkering: You can blame the offense all you want, but if Kerk makes that relatively simple play, we are seeing Blake Treinen in the next inning. The Dodgers had run out of good pitchers! And if the Phillies win this game, maybe Walker Buehler survives and Schwarber goes nuts in Game 5. We will never know.

To close, I will give you the three reasons I am most bummed out today.

(1) The Phillies, despite all of their flaws, were legitimately close. For all of the reasons listed above. If 1-3 shows up, or Bader does not get hurt, or Call gets correctly rung up… You get the point. Thanks to the Phillies pitching, this was a winnable series. It might not have felt close with the lack of offense, but it was close.

I think if Ohtani and Betts had slugged a bunch of homers, it would have been an easier loss to take in a lot of ways. But they did not, the Phillies’ starters more or less owned them. And they still lost in four games, because their top hitters struggled and a number of other smaller factors/key plays.

(2) This Phillies team was capable of winning a World Series. During this run, I think the Phillies have lost to two World Series caliber teams: The 2022 Astros and the 2025 Dodgers. Part of what makes this so hard is that I believe the Dodgers are gonna win the World Series in a few weeks. And if the Phillies had brought their A-game for the right week, this week, maybe they would have been favorites.

I could be wrong. Go Brewers, Cubs and American League, by the way. But I cannot believe how good the Dodgers starting pitching is. Glasnow as your No. 4, that is ridiculous. Good luck to the rest the field against that group of starters, it is not very fun.

(3) The big one: The accumulation. In theory, getting shut down by Shohei Ohtani, Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow should not feel as bad as getting shut down by David Peterson, Sean Manaea and Jose Quintana. This was a legitimately tough test.

But the Phillies did get shut down by David Peterson, Sean Manaea and Jose Quintana! Merrill Kelly and Brandon Pfaadt, too! We have multiple of years of these big-name players completely no-showing in October. And with no title like the 2008 team had, we are just throwing another playoff failure on the pile.

The better the Phillies fare in the regular season, the worse they fare in the playoffs. Wednesday night was fun and slightly face-saving, but let’s be real, Red October lasted less than a week the past two years. Citizens Bank Park has gone from the loudest stadium in baseball to a place where the Phillies lose all of the time. Our worldview has changed so much in the past few seasons.

To win in October most years, you need a degree of talent and a degree of magic. The 2022 Phillies? They had the magic, just like 2023 Diamondbacks and 2024 Mets, but not the talent. The 2024 and 2025 Phillies? Perhaps the talent, but not the magic.

As always, you gotta take your chance when you can. The 2023 series against Arizona still looms over everything. I have no idea what is coming this offseason, and I do not feel like thinking about it. Go Phils.

I will briefly get into the other two losses, but not before bringing up a new podcast that is partnering with PHLY and the ALLCITY Network: House of Action, featuring Delaware State head coach DeSean Jackson and his running backs coach Clinton Portis.

The first ep is here. Here are the links:

My favorite D-Jax play? Miracle at the Meadowlands II. I still smile picturing Tom Coughlin screaming at Matt Dodge.

Well, let’s get to the Massacre at the Meadowlands…

NJ Giants 34, Eagles 17: Great, the Birds are just gonna get destroyed at MetLife every other year? Love it, sick.

Truly disgusting performance, as embarrassing as it gets. As Bo pointed out, the only three positives…

I will add one more positive: In 2023, we had to put up with, “They’re winning!” into December. No more of that nonsense. These guys just got boatraced by Jaxson Dart and Cam Skattebo. That’s rock bottom.

The Eagles have a negative point differential. This is the sixth straight week they have been outgained. Their offense feels mind-numbingly difficult, the definition of "Doing more with less.” Kevin Patullo, buddy, you need to show us something and soon. The defense just got embarrassed for five straight quarters and has no pass-rush (even if they were super banged-up in this one).

The 2025 Philadelphia Eagles are, at best, a mediocre football team so far. Probably slightly below, if we are being honest here. Now that a problem finally has been admitted, let’s see if they can fix it. Disgusting performance from everyone involved, brutal stuff.

Awesome. Great vibes here.

Florida 2, Flyers 1: Seems like the Orange and Black played OK. Pod is here.

(And trust me, I will start going way more in-detail on the Eagles, Flyers and Sixers next week. Just had some Phils thoughts to get off my chest.)

Your tentative Friday schedule at ​PHLY​:

Have a great weekend. Let’s make it a good one today, as good as we can at least.

Rich Hofmann
Daily Newsletter Editor
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