The Philadelphia Phillies lost to the Washington Nationals 6-3 on Saturday. With the loss, the Los Angeles Dodgers clinched the top seed in the National League, as well as the best record in baseball. The Dodgers will have home field advantage throughout the playoffs.
The Phillies currently have the second-best record in MLB at 94-67 with one game remaining in the regular season. However, the team has appeared out of sync down the stretch. With Saturday’s loss to the 71-90 Nationals, Philadelphia has gone just 4-8 over its last 12 games.
“We haven't played necessarily the best in the last week or so but once that postseason starts, all that's behind you and it's about competing in that moment, and I think we're ready for it,” Phillies All-Star shortstop Trea Turner said, via ESPN’s game recap.
Turner did his part to keep Philadelphia in the game Saturday. He hit a two-run eighth inning home run off Nationals' reliever Jose Ferrer to tie the game at two. It was Turner’s 21st homer and his two RBI on the day gave him 62 on the season.
Trea Turner knows the Phillies aren’t playing their best baseball
Unfortunately, the Phillies’ bullpen couldn’t preserve an excellent start from veteran ace Zack Wheeler, who went 6.1 innings and allowed just two runs on three hits, striking out 11 and walking two batters. Reliever Jeff Hoffman, who’s otherwise been terrific in 2024, allowed four runs on four hits in one inning of work. The Phillies added another run in the ninth when Nick Castellanos tripled and Alec Bohm drove him in on a ground out, but that’s as close as they’d get, ultimately falling 6-3.
Philadelphia won the NL East on Monday – the team’s first division crown since 2011. The Phillies had hoped to secure home field advantage throughout the playoffs with the top seed in the NL. While they failed to beat out the Dodgers, the Phillies did earn a first-round bye. Perhaps the time off will help the team refocus and get back to their winning ways. Philadelphia will reach the postseason for the third consecutive season. They won the National League Pennant in 2022 but lost to the Houston Astros in the World Series.
The Dodgers will make the postseason for the 12th straight year. They have three World Series appearances in that stretch with one championship, which the team won during the Covid-shorted 2020 season.
Los Angeles has been red-hot in the second half of the season. The team has gone 40-23 since returning from the All-Star break, the second-best record in baseball during that stretch. The Phillies, on the other hand, are just 32-33 since the Midsummer Classic, good for 17th-best in MLB in that span.
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