Phillies Drop NLDS to Dodgers by way of Mental Mistakes and Offensive Silence

The Phillies' season is officially over, in a wildly sloppy loss to the Dodgers in extra innings

Oct 9, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Jhoan Duran (59) reacts after walking in a run in the seventh inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers during game four of the NLDS round for the 2025 MLB playoffs at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

The Philadelphia Phillies' Game 3 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers extended the series to a fourth game, but a walkoff infield single by Andy Pages ended their season just one night later.

It was an old-fashioned pitcher's duel through the first six innings at Dodger Stadium between Tyler Glasnow and Cristopher Sanchez, both making their second appearance of the series. Glasnow ran into early trouble, allowing a Kyle Schwarber double and Alec Bohm walk in the first inning, before blowing a high fastball by Brandon Marsh to end the inning.

Sanchez faced his first jam in the third inning, after a Bohm fielding error with two outs set up first and third with two outs and former MVP Mookie Betts at the plate. He promptly forced him to roll over to first baseman Bryce Harper, keeping the score tied at zero.

Both starters cruised through the middle third of the game, Glasnow wiggling his way out of a few minor jams, and Sanchez ending the sixth by retiring two straight Dodgers after they put men on first and second with one out.

The Phillies finally broke the stalemate with one out in the seventh, when manager Dave Roberts went to the first arm out of his bullpen in Emmet Sheehan. A leadoff J.T. Realmuto single was followed by a Max Kepler ground ball that Betts threw away when trying to get him at first, resulting in Kepler moving up to second. Nick Castellanos finished off an excellent at-bat by roping a ball down the third base line to score Kepler from second and put Philadelphia up 1-0.

On the pitching side, the seventh inning continued to be a disaster inning for the Phillies. Sanchez started the inning, getting Will Smith to ground out before allowing a walk to Alex Call and a single to Kike Hernandez before manager Rob Thomson took him out in favor of closer Jhoan Duran. Duran got Andy Pages to ground out to first, but an intentional walk to Shohei Ohtani led to a full count walk to Betts, and the game was tied before he struck out Game 1 hero Teoscar Hernandez to send the game to the eighth.

The eighth inning was relatively quiet, with both Duran and Dodgers' rookie Roki Saski sitting down the opposing offense in order. Sasaki stayed in for the ninth, sitting down Marsh, Realmuto, and Kepler on ten pitches.

Matt Strahm was able to shut down the back end of the Dodgers lineup to get the game to extra innings, keeping the Phillies' hopes alive. Sasaki continued to look absolutely untouchable as he carried his spotless outing through the 10th inning, breezing through another inning of work.

Pulling every lever imaginable to get the Phillies to Game 5, as Thomson turned the ball over to Game 2 starter Jesus Luzardo to face the Dodgers' 1-2-3 hitters. In the 10th, Luzardo looked every bit the dominant pitcher that Phillies fans have come to know when his stuff is working, retiring all three in order.

Alex Vesia was the next man up out of the Dodgers' bullpen, and he worked around a one-out Bryce Harper walk to give Los Angeles another chance in the bottom of the 11th.

Luzardo stayed in for the 11th, striking out Freddie Freeman before allowing a line drive single to Tommy Edman. Will Smith flew out to center field, and Max Muncy singled to center to set up runners on the corners with two down.

Orion Kerkering was brought in to face arguably the hottest October hitter of the 2020s in Kike Hernandez, who forced a walk to load the bases. A broken-bat ground ball back to Kerkering looked to get the Phillies out of the inning, but he mistakenly threw home, missed completely, and the Phillies' season came to an end.

All Eyes on 2026

With the 2025 season now officially concluded, another year of disappointment is in the books for the Philadelphia faithful. Another playoff run ended by offensive silence takes another year off the fading primes of the Phillies' core, and only shortens the championship window even further.

With major changes needed to be made by President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski in the coming months, the attention turns to 2026 as the team will, once again, have to start from square one.