‘This really f—ing sucks right now’: 4 thoughts after Phillies’ Game 4 loss, ending more than just their season

24 days ago, the Phillies partied in the tight visiting clubhouse at Dodger Stadium, where they preached a distinct message.

They had just clinched their second-straight NL East crown in a thrilling 10-inning victory over the Dodgers, earning their earliest division clinch in franchise history.

In the midst of the celebration, the Phillies had their eyes on the road ahead. There was a different feeling heading into the postseason, a feeling that could change the notion of this core, which was possibly heading into their final ride.

24 days later, that same clubhouse, which was flooded with champagne and celebration, was dry with opposite emotion. The room felt tighter than before, like the walls were closing in.

If anything closed in, it was the championship window.

The Phillies’ 2-1 loss in 11 innings Thursday night was one of the toughest losses in franchise history; however, it echoed the same issues the Phils have had in the postseason over the last four Octobers. And now, it could end this core.

I have a lot of thoughts, but I narrowed them down to four main ones.

Here is what I got, as it is darkness at the end of the tunnel once again for the Phillies:

1. The Phillies’ No. 1 issue comes from their stars. It is not a new thing, but in 2025, it totally set this team off.

Trea Turner, Kyle Schwarber, and Bryce Harper in this four-game NLDS went a combined 10-for-48, a .208 average. In Game 3, the trio went 7-for-13. The Phillies won that game. They went 3-for-35 in the three losses.

There is your series. That is $74.6 million right there.

It is not like they worked good at-bats. In all three losses, the three of them were undisciplined, uncomfortable, and seemed totally overmatched at the plate.

You would think that the Game 3 slugfest would carry over into Game 4. They had a good first inning, but were not able to score with runners on the corners after getting Tyler Glasnow to throw 29 pitches. The Phillies did not get another hit until the seventh inning, when Nick Castellanos hit an RBI double for their only run of the game. Max Kepler, who scored, got on base because Emmet Sheehan did not catch the ball covering first base.

In Game 4, with the series on the line, the top-three went 1-for-14 with four strikeouts.

“You either win or lose,” Turner said postgame. “I don’t care how it ends, who it is, what it is. It doesn’t matter. At the end of the day, losing sucks. It’s the worst feeling. It sucks. I felt like we played a really good team, and we played really clean baseball for a lot of innings. I felt like we had some more opportunities offensively, myself included. If those things go one way or the other in a few of these games, who knows what happens? We lost, and we have to do better.

“When you’re facing elimination, you can’t afford to have a single bad game or really a single bad at-bat. They all count. They all feel really big. Who knows what happens if you hit a single here or there or get a walk here or there. Who knows what happens. I think we all feel that. We want to be that person up there in those situations and we didn’t get it done. That’s on me and on us.”

The Dodgers’ top guys also did not have a great series. Shohei Ohtani had one hit, and Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts were nearly non-factors. However, others throughout the lineup stepped up. The Phillies did not get that.

Alec Bohm went 4-for-12 and did not come through once with runners on. Kepler was 2-for-12, Brandon Marsh went 1-for-13, Bryson Stott was 2-for-13, and Castellanos was clutch, but only reached base twice in 15 plate appearances.

Your stars set the tone, but the rest of the lineup has to come through. The Phillies did not get that again.

And what makes it so frustrating is that the Phillies’ pitching was fantastic. Cristopher Sanchez threw 12 outstanding innings, allowing just three runs, all driven in against the bullpen. Jesus Luzardo was electric in Game 2, and then came in for extras in Game 4 and was disgusting. Even the relievers in Thursday’s do-or-die Game 4 came through until the very end.

There are a lot of things you can point your finger at for this series, but the offense is the No. 1 culprit. In particular, the ones who are being paid the most. This is nothing new. This is Year 4 of this. This offense did not show up. Something needs to change.

Darkness. Again.

2. You gotta feel for Orion Kerkering. That was so gutwrenching to watch.

I will paint you my picture. It is halftime at MetLife Stadium, and I am watching the Phillies on my phone in the back of section 123 in East Rutherford. Luzardo comes back out for the 11th. He strikes out Freeman, allows a single to Tommy Edman, gets Will Smith to line out, and then allows a base hit to Max Muncy, moving Edman up to third.

After that, Luzardo was done. Kerkering came in. I questioned it. Kerkering has been brutal this year with inherited runners.

He walked Kike Hernandez. Bases loaded. Two outs. Andy Pages up. We all know what happens from there. It was the first series clincher to come from a walk-off error in baseball history.

The scene was tormenting. The Dodgers celebrated around first base, and Kerkerking is hunched over, hands on knees, head to the ground, in misery.

At MetLife Stadium, I sat there in disbelief and agony, staring at my phone in shock.

It was the wrong play by Kerkering. Pages was hardly up the first baseline. J.T. Realmuto was pointing to first base. But Kerkering panicked. It was heartbreaking.

“Just kind of the pressure got to me. Just in the moment,” Kerkering said emotionally after the game. “Just thought it was a faster throw to J.T., a little quicker throw than trying to cross-body it to Bryce. Just a horses—t throw.”

On Kerkering’s way off the field, Rob Thomson grabbed him before making his way down the stairs of the dugout.

“Just keep his head up,” Thomson said postgame regarding what he told Kerkering. “He just got caught up in the moment a little bit. Coming down the stretch there, he pitched so well for us. I feel for him because he’s putting it all on his shoulders. But we win as a team and we lose as a team.”

The Dodgers’ two runs came from a bases-loaded walk from Jhoan Duran to Betts after walking Ohtani intentionally to load the bases and Kerkering’s error. Duran’s walk was the first time he had ever allowed a walk with the bases loaded.

It is easy to say Kerkering lost this game and this series for the Phillies. It was a crucial mental error. If you believe this, go back and read my last thought on the offense. This game could have gone 20 innings, and the Phillies probably would not have scored.

“This really f—ing sucks right now,” Kerkering said, “but hopefully keep pushing and get over this hump. Keep pushing.”

3. This all starts at the top. It starts with Thomson.

This season ended with one of his worst moves of the series.

Luzardo was dealing in the 10th and 11th. He got two outs in the 11th, was at 30 pitches, and was pulled from the game for Kerkering. Thomson said postgame that the plan was only for Luzardo to pitch just one inning, as he was on just three days left. So if you send him back out there, then why does it matter? You have to win this game.

Since August 1st, Kerkering has entered with 14 inherited runners. He allowed nine to score. That is pathetic.

Why is he even in? Season on the line, you need one out, ride the hot hand in Luzardo, and maybe we are talking about a Game 5 on Saturday.

This was a really bad series for Thomson. Really bad. There are moments (yes, plural) from all three losses where Thomson could have managed better. Whether he was being too cute or making just the straight-up wrong call, there was something in every loss.

Is this surprising? I do not think so. Look back through the last four postseasons. In Game 6 of the 2022 World Series, Thomson pulled Zack Wheeler way too quickly, and Jose Alvarado allowed a bomb, and the Phillies’ season came to an end. 2023 NLCS, Craig Kimbrel blew game after game. And just last season, Thomson managed the bullpen horribly, and the Phils lost in four games to the Mets, which is very similar to this season.

Postseason after postseason, Thomson blunders. The offense is abhorrent. The relievers are dreadful. This starts at the top. I am not saying the Phillies should move on from him, but it needs to be discussed.

“I’m not even thinking about that it right now,” Thomson said postgame in regards to his job. “I’ve got 60 people in [the clubhouse] that are brokenhearted right now. I’m thinking about that a lot more than my job right now.”

4. We watched this core’s eulogy Thursday night.

This team was outcoached, outpitched, outhit, and outclassed by the Dodgers this week. It is now the fourth year in a row that the Phillies have had a better record but a worse result in the postseason.

“Tough situation, obviously,” Harper said in the clubhouse. “We want to win, and we want to advance to the NLCS. It’s a really good team over there, and we went toe-to-toe today. Pretty heavyweight fight back and forth and things like that. Really good pitching, obviously, and they came out on top.”

This was supposed to be the year the Phillies silenced the October alligations. This was supposed to be the year they got it done. Instead, it is darkness, again.

“When this happens, it’s like your entire world comes to a stop,” Thomson stated. “It’s just a thud. It’s just not a good feeling. It really isn’t. Especially, regular season we were really good. We had a lot of wins. We expected a lot more.”

Not just was this the end of the season, but it is the end of this core.

Realmuto, Schwarber, and Ranger Suarez are all free agents once the World Series concludes. This was the oldest team in baseball this season. They do not show up when the lights are brightest.

This is the end of the most disappointing era in Phillies history.

“It doesn’t feel good,” Schwarber said with utter sadness and disappointment after what could have been his final game as a Phillie. “You make a lot of different relationships in the clubhouse. You don’t know how it’s going to work out. You just make so many personal relationships with guys, and you spend how much time with these guys throughout the course of the year and they become family and you just never know how it’s going to go. These guys know how I feel about them. I got a lot of respect for the guys in here, the organization, the coaching staff, everyone, top to bottom. This is a premier organization, and a lot of people should feel very lucky that you’re playing for a team that is trying to win every single year, and you have a fan base that cares, and you have an ownership that cares, you have coaches that care.”

Schwarber has been the heart and soul of this team since he came over in 2022. Realmuto is right up there with him, and everyone gravitates toward Suarez due to his cool, calm, and collected approach.

These guys know that this was it.

“I’m not sure,” said Harper about the future. “J.T. is one of the best catchers in baseball. Our guys love pitching to him, throwing to him. He calls a great game. Had a great year this year, had a great postseason. Schwarbs is one of our team leaders, cornerstone of our organization. I’m not really sure what happens or what goes into this offseason or where we kind of go from here. I think those guys are going to be a main decision for us and main conversation for us as a team and as a club. We love those guys and want them back.

“I know fans are upset, it’s warranted. We’re upset in here as well. Our daily life is Phillie baseball. This is our family in here. This is what we do. We want to win not just for ourselves but for everybody that watches us play as a fan base and everything else. I understand what they’re going through. I’ve lost many playoff series and many games in the playoffs and it’s not fun. I want it more than probably a lot of people. I want to hold that trophy and that’s the goal every single time you get into spring training and that’s going to be the goal for us going into spring training this year.”

The future is uncertain in Philadelphia. Schwarber, Realmuto, and Suarez are all in for hefty paydays. There are more who, after 2026, will hit the market and are candidates to be moved this winter.

Who knows what this Phillies team, or coaching staff, will look like in four months?

“I told them after the game I appreciate what they’ve done all year,” Thomson said. “They prepared, competed, picked each other up. True professionals the entire year. I’m extremely proud of how they went about their business. That goes for the coaching staff, all the support staff. It’s a unique group of people. They win as a team, they lose as a team. They support each other. As bad as you feel, it’s good to see them be there for each other.

“When this happens it’s like the entire world comes to a stop. It’s just a thud. It’s just not a good feeling. Especially the regular season, we were really good. We had a lot of wins. We expected a lot more.”

There is more darkness in October in Philadelphia.

Another season of nothing.

Darkness. Again.

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