Phillies to Face Dodgers in NLDS in Heavyweight Matchup

The NLDS is finally set, and we know who the Phillies are going to face: the NL West and reigning World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers, after an 8-4 win in Game 2 of the Wild Card series over the Cincinnati Reds in Los Angeles.

This was the matchup many thought would headline the NLCS when Spring Training broke. Instead, we get it a little earlier — in the NLDS. No Cinderella stories, no surprises. Just two National League powerhouses with a ton of playoff history against each other, colliding to see who keeps playing and who heads for the golf course.

If today’s intrasquad game was any indication, Fightin’s fans are ready, more than 31,000 fans packed Citizens Bank Park today, to watch today’s tuneup.

The Phils were 4-2 against the Dodgers this year, which certainly gives a bit of confidence. But the Dodgers still enter with at least equal depth and star power, but let’s not forget they are the defending World Series champions. Beating them in May or September is one thing. Beating them when every pitch carries weight is another. I’m also certain that they haven’t forgotten the Phils celebrating the division championship in their yard either.

Trea Turner’s return is a meaningful storyline here. He wasn’t in the lineup a few weeks ago when the Phils visited Chavez Ravine, and has had nearly an extra week of recuperation after his stint on the IL for his hamstring. Though he went 0-for-2 in the last game of the season, and didn’t really push it, the idea was to let him see live pitching and reestablish some defensive timing. That game was conservative by design. The first-round bye has been most beneficial to Turner so far.

Another interesting turn, the man who got the last out for the Dodgers in last year’s playoffs, Walker Buehler, is now in a Phillies uniform. The team signed him before the postseason eligibility deadline and made moves to add him to the active roster. He has a clean playoff track record with the Dodgers, and the Phillies may use him as a spot starter or multi-role arm. His presence complicates matchups; he knows the Dodgers, he knows October, and he might make an impact if pushed into a spot start or even relief.

Philadelphia’s rotation plans for the series look like this: Cristopher Sanchez, Jesus Luzardo, and Ranger Suarez will form the core. Taijuan Walker is available as a spot starter, and Buehler fits into that same swing role. Aaron Nola‘s role as of now is unclear. That gives Rob Thomson flexibility, rest, and matchup options. The Dodgers’ rotation is as fearsome as ever. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow (when healthy), and this guy named Shohei Ohtani, who is set to start Game 1. LA can throw multiple high-ceiling arms to start the game. For the Dodgers, any short outing is a disaster; their starters have to go deep or things will drastically increase in the Phils’ favor.

The bullpens are where this series will tilt. It’s imperative that the Phillies get to the LA relievers as early as possible and force Dave Roberts into hard decisions, which was proven in the close-out game of the Wild Card series. When Yamamoto left the game, the Dodgers were up 7-2, and the Reds made it more interesting than it needed to be. The more arms LA burns before the seventh inning, the bigger the advantage swings to the Phils. One constant in the matchup in September between these teams was that the Dodgers’ starters handled the Phils’ lineup well. Granted, they were missing their most consistent hitter in Turner; however, the Dodgers’ starters are so good that I’m not sure Trea’s presence would have mattered much.

While the series will pivot on the pitching, both teams have incredibly stacked offenses, and we can talk about Mookie Betts, Ohtani, and Freddie Freeman vs. Turner, Kyle Schwarber, and Bryce Harper, I think that the real litmus test of the series will be Kike Hernandez vs. Harrison Bader. Both have similar numbers in the playoffs, but both are spark plugs for the big dogs on their respective teams. Both players are energy sources for their teams, and whichever has a better series will give their team the energy advantage, and in a short series, that is huge.

I think we all knew that if the Phillies had any hopes of getting the last out of the 2025 season, they would have to go through the Dodgers. While they have been the collective boogeymen over the past 3 seasons, since they went on their unprecedented spending spree, the Phils have had the Dodgers’ number in recent history, winning the last 5 series dating back to June 2023, and in the playoffs, they have won the last 3 Postseason matchups against the Dodgers, dating back to 1983.

The Dodgers will get a taste of Red October at Citizens Bank Park for game one, facing Sanchez. The Dodgers are likely to throw Ohtani, who has never pitched in Philadelphia. His first-ever start against the Phillies came in September, the night after they clinched the NL East, and Ohtani threw five perfect innings. The Phils stormed back against their bullpen to steal a victory.

The start time is up in the air, dependent on the outcome of the Yankees and Red Sox series. If New York advances, first pitch will be at 6:38 p.m. EST, and if Boston advances, first pitch will be at 6:08 p.m. EST.

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