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And, wait, what’s this?

Man, that team absolutely owned Jonathan Broxton. Let’s get Matt Stairs and J-Roll to throw out the first pitch on Saturday.

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Phillies-Dodgers trivia!

Answers at the bottom.

If you wanna be the man, you gotta beat the man.

It has been a ton of fun watching playoff baseball over the last two days. Some great theater, particularly in the Bronx between the Yanks and Sawx. You know why I have primarily enjoyed the games, though? I do not even care a little bit about who wins! That all changes on Saturdee, as what is easily the most torturous experience as a sports fan commences again: Being invested in playoff baseball. Even with the pitch clock, it just. moves. so. slow.

Every time that the opponent puts a man in scoring position, I start feeling nauseous. Every home run for the good guys, I let out a yell that I did not think I was previously capable of. It’s the worst, it’s the best, it’s here.

During the regular season, I do not have a ton of time for the rest of Major League Baseball. I am so hyper-focused on the Phillies, and that is enough of a six-month commitment for me outside of the trade deadline or some crazy Shohei Ohtani homer that comes across my YouTube algorithm or Twitter feed. And then in August and September, I start to lock in on the division and wild-card races… but mostly only the ones that affect the Fightins.

During that period, I did not appreciate how much better the National League was than the American League in the regular season. The NL has five of the top-seven teams in run differential. The freaking Padres are the five seed in the National League. They have Mason Miller dotting 104 mph on the outside corner, and he is their set-up guy because A.J. Preller is an absolute wild man and traded one of the top prospects in baseball.

Depends on where you look, but the Phillies are second in World Series odds at a lot of places. First? The team that is coming to The Bank this weekend, the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers.

I say all of this to point out that we are in The Gauntlet right now. We are getting a World Series-quality matchup in the division series. If there is a title to be won for these Phillies, it will not be an easy road. You are gonna have to go through Shohei, Mookie, Freddie and Teoscar to get there. You are gonna have to go through Shohei, Snell, Yamamoto and Glasnow to get there.

The Phillies can absolutely do this. This is a well-rounded, experienced, hungry ballclub. They will be backed by Citizens Bank Park, the type of madhouse that does not exist in the rest of the sport. If I am looking back to a past series as the template, it’s the 2023 NLDS against Atlanta. It just felt like the Phillies’ game-plan and execution was so on point against what was a historically great lineup. The Phillies have had some real success against these Dodgers the last two regular seasons as well. Does that ultimately matter? I hope so!

We will get into the more granular, matchup-based questions for Phillies-Dodgers tomorrow. Who pitches Game 2 and who bats cleanup? What are they gonna do against Ohtani in Game 1? Those type of things.

But the biggest key is gonna be getting into that bullpen. The Dodgers more or less cruised against Cincinnati the last two nights, but it was incredible watching how terrified Dave Roberts is of his bullpen. He was constantly fidgeting back and forth. He took Emmett Sheehan out in the middle of an at-bat, with a 1-2 count. He reacted like this to Alex Vesia stranding the bases loaded up four.

Seriously, imagine Rob Thomson going nuts for Matt Strahm getting a fairly routine hold with a huge lead. It wouldn’t happen! That is the expectation here.

Anyway, the Dodgers are good but not perfect. The Phils had a better regular-season record and took four of six from them, after all. There are weaknesses to pick at, but also strengths that have to be mitigated.

Big-time baseball starting on Saturday in South Philly. I hope you’re ready.

October very well might be the greatest sports month of the year, with every sport currently in season. Check out our site, and look at all of the premium writing. Charlie on the Flyers, Kyle on the Sixers, EJ on the Eagles… and so much more.

That writing is one of the great perks of Becoming a Diehard, but there are more:

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Shot: Ahhh!!!

Chaser: OK, this one is a little more serious.

At some point, we will have to put together a power rankings of A.J. Brown’s most memorable media moments. There was the time he called into drive-time radio. There was the time he defended Nick Sirianni’s honor (and volunteered that he and Jalen Hurts freelanced on a crucial interception). There was the time he bluntly answered “passing” when asked what on offense needed to improve.

Will this one make the pantheon? Hard to say, but probably not.

Brown made it a point to say that his cryptic scripture passage tweet was not directed at any one person, but that he is frustrated with the offense’s up-and-down nature. The second part is definitely fair. You can watch the full availability here, if you would like.

Nakobe Dean, back at practice: Welcome back, 1-7!

The Eagles opened up Nakobe’s practice window yesterday, which means they have three weeks to activate him. Feels like a decently fast recovery, a patellar tear is no joke. And with that in mind, I wonder if Nakobe skips The Dreaded MetLife Turf next week — my fantasy team was doing so well, but I did not price in Malik Nabers playing half of his games there — and makes his debut on October 19th at Minnesota.

Nakobe was so good last season, and I was worried that he would be Wally Pipp’d by Jihaad Campbell. And look, maybe he has. After all, most NFL teams only need two linebackers for most of the game. Campbell has certainly done his part to play the Lou Gehrig role. But with the Eagles’ lack of pass-rush on the edge, I wonder if Uncle Vic decides to get creative, uses Campbell and Zack Baun’s versatility, and tries to get Nakobe on the field. Might the best 11 on the Eagles defense include Nakobe Dean?

Maybe, maybe not, but Uncle Vic in his mad scientist phase has me dreaming of a defensive football revolution.

Quinyon Mitchell, NFC Defensive Player of the Week: Well deserved. For the rest of his career, I will refer to Emeka Egbuka as a “Mukuba Merchant.”

Game 1 time: 6:08 p.m. on Saturday if the Sawx advance, 6:38 if the Yanks advance.

Intrasquad scrimmage: Looks like a good time was had by all 30,000 who attended. Bryce Harper went deep off Ol’ Tight Pants in the powder blues, Jesús Luzardo and Aaron Nola got the start, Trea Turner got some work and a bunch of money got raised.

Top-five games: I loved Tyler’s top-five Phillies wins of the season, and not just because I was lucky enough to attend two of them. I would probably flip No. 3 and No. 4, but honestly, great list. That 9/8 Aaron Nola start, against Nolan McLean and on the same day that the Phillies put multiple guys on IR, sent the Phillies and Mets in opposite directions for the last three weeks.

Brian Snitker: Out as the Braves manager, #AsExpected. Tons of managerial jobs open in baseball right now. Albert Pujols seriously might get the Angels job.

Quentin Grimes signs the qualifying offer: BOOOOOO!!!!! I am throwing all of the tomatoes at this entire situation. 🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅

Alright, I am out of tomatoes.

My first point, and perhaps the most important one here: After an entire offseason, we still do not know exactly what happened in negotiations. David Bauman, Grimes’ agent, has been on the record with a few different publications over the past week. And all due respect to David Bauman, but he is an agent tasked with trying to get the best deal for his client. I am not taking his word as gospel.

That said, we can look at some context clues and wonder if the Sixers goofed up here. Two details from Shams’ story, which both come from Bauman and involve the concept of balloon payment, stand out here…

On the podcast in recent weeks, Derek has been banging the drum hard — now that I mention it, someone should photoshop Derek banging a drum Neil Peart style — that this whole thing could be luxury-tax related. It’s a convincing argument, and if those two details are true, there is really no other conclusion that you can come to.

Derek explained here: Basically, there is no team-building downside to giving Grimes one year and $15 million as opposed to the $8.7 million qualifying offer… except that the Sixers would be farther from ducking the luxury tax if they so choose. In fact, giving Grimes the balloon payment would mean that his Bird rights would be tradable, he did not have a no-trade clause to work around, the Sixers had more matching salary to work with, and all of the other good stuff I wrote about this summer. Team-building benefits, all of them.

But if those things are true, the Sixers did not really care about trading Grimes at all. If the season goes sideways, they can now dump Kelly Oubre Jr. and, in what has become a February tradition in the Delaware Valley alongside Phillies spring training and the semi-regular Eagles Super Bowl appearance, duck the luxury tax at the trade deadline. Now that I mention it, maybe we can get a photoshop of Josh Harris and Franklin limboing under the tax.

If that $8.8 million part is true, that is my favorite detail of this whole standoff. An extra $100,000, to give away all of your leverage. Just a comically insulting offer. One of our Discord commenters mentioned that a Wawa gift card would probably be less insulting. But it would be what you offer if you are worried about the luxury tax.

All that said, I think this is absolutely a failure for Grimes as well. We can look at some context clues and also wonder if he was the one who goofed up. Bauman is on record saying that they wanted $20-25 million for Grimes, and well, that was not happening.

What a weird team dynamic this might create. I think Grimes is gonna get his opportunity — Jared McCain is already injured and Nick Nurse ain’t benching one of his better players — heading into a summer with more cap space available. But the Sixers have much less incentive to worry about Grimes now. With a guy who has already bounced around, I definitely worry about the vibes if he is not getting the minutes and touches that he desires.

The devil is in the details, but the Sixers and Quentin Grimes should have both been motivated to strike a deal in that $15 million range per year. I do not know who exactly, but at least one of them goofed up here. Maybe both of them did. And the unfortunate loser here, as always? Sixers fans.

Wait, I got some more tomatoes. BOOOOO!!!! 🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅

Lunchtime hoops in Abu Dhabi (12:00 p.m., NBATV), Sixers-Knicks. I have no idea who is gonna play — it would be stunning if we see Joel Embiid — but some V.J. Edgecombe over lunch would be cool. And the Flyers are hosting the Islanders (7:00 p.m., NBC Sports Philly) as the preseason rolls on.

Outside of that, three do-or-die games in baseball and Rams-Niners on Thursday Night Football. Can’t wait!

Your tentative Thursday schedule at PHLY. Get us to 50K!

And oh yeah, the trivia answers:

Let's make it a good one.

Rich Hofmann
Daily Newsletter Editor
PHLY SPORTS