Baseball’s two best teams showed us a lot this weekend.
It’s hard to say that any series between two baseball teams during the first week of April has any long-term cosmic significance. The season, barely two weeks old, remains in its infancy. It would be foolish to glean any hard-and-fast truths with just 5% of the season in the rear view mirror.
That said, the Phillies and Dodgers played a whale of a series in Philadelphia over the weekend, one that absolutely could be repeated six months from now in Major League Baseball’s postseason tournament.
All three games at Citizens Bank Park crackled with intensity. All were close. All were in doubt until the final pitch. On Friday, the Phillies rode a huge performance from Jesus Luzardo and a heroic game behind the plate from J.T. Realmuto for a series opening 3-2 win. On Saturday, the Dodgers responded by shutting down the Phils’ offense with a 3-1 win of their own and on Sunday, the bats woke up as the two teams slugged it out in a see-saw contest the Phils won late, 8-7.
Here are five things we all learned after watching these two stacked clubs duke it out in an NLCS preview.
The Phils Have the Starters to Stifle the Dodgers
Even when a Phillies starter isn’t having their best day, they can still be tough to deal with. And when they’re on, which is often, it can be difficult for any lineup to handle.
Granted, the Dodgers were without future Hall of Fame first baseman Freddie Freeman for this series, but the rest of the lineup was present and accounted for. For much of the weekend, Phils starters held them in check.
On Friday, Luzardo, acquired from the Marlins via trade this winter as the fall-back option after talks over Garrett Crochet fizzled out, was electric once again. He went seven innings and gave up just two hits and two walks while striking out eight. On Saturday, Aaron Nola gave up three earned runs in six innings of work. He was not masterful in this outing, done in by the long ball, as is often the case with him, but he turned in a quality start nonetheless.
As for Cristopher Sanchez on Sunday, he struck out Shohei Ohtani three times and Mookie Betts twice and piled up nine Ks over 5 ⅔ innings with just four hits allowed and one walk. Unfortunately for him, Dodgers slugger Teoscar Hernandez was his kryptonite, blasting two home runs with four RBIs against him.
Still, we saw that the Phillies’ trump card, their starting rotation, is good enough to slow any lineup down.
Shohei Ohtani’s Philly Struggles
People who live in Philadelphia and watch baseball there alone can’t understand what all the fuss is about. Whatever makes Shohei Ohtani special everywhere else, he can’t seem to replicate it when he comes to the City of Brotherly Shove.
Ohtani went 1-for-11 in the series, with five strikeouts and just two walks. Last year in a three-game series in Philly, he went 3-for-10 with one RBI. All his hits were singles. He was better as an Angel in 2023, 5-for-13 with a double and 3 RBIs. In 12 career games at CBP, Ohtani is hitting .250/.365/.296, with a .661 OPS. He has never homered there, one of only two parks he has yet to go deep in (Cincinnati’s Great American Ball Park), and the only stadiums in which he has a lower OPS are Cincinnati (.486), San Diego (.564), Yankee Stadium (.612) and Seattle (.658).
Too many cheesesteaks, maybe?
Shaky Bullpens for Both
There’s no doubt the Dodgers have built the best roster in baseball, but they are not without flaws. Despite the payroll, they are not perfect.
Like the Phillies, the Dodgers are an older team, which means they’re susceptible to injuries. They were without their 35-year-old first baseman in Philadelphia over the weekend due to a freak shower accident, but he missed the team’s Japan series and the series against Atlanta due to rib discomfort. Two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell was just placed on the injured list with an inflamed shoulder.
Both teams also dealt with a couple bullpen meltdowns over the weekend. For the Phillies, there is legitimate concern over free agent acquisition Jordan Romano, who signed a $10 million deal over the winter but has struggled with his velocity and command. In five appearances, his ERA is up to 15.75, and, asked to protect a 6-5 lead in the 7th, allowed the Dodgers to score twice and grab a short-lived 7-6 lead.
But the Dodgers ‘pen gave it right back. On Sunday, it was Blake Treinen who was victimized for two runs allowed on two hits and a walk in an inning of work, blowing the save and taking the loss. On Friday, the Phillies got to Kirby Yates for two runs on two hits and a walk in ⅔ of an inning. Romano almost gave the 3-0 lead right back in the 9th when he allowed a Tommy Edman two-run homer, but Realmuto’s caught stealing of Chris Taylor with two out sealed the victory for Romano and the ‘pen.
The Patient Phillies?
The Phillies like to swing the bats. They’re not known for their patience or selectivity at the plate, so it raised a number of eyebrows on Sunday when they walked ELEVEN times against Dodgers pitching. On Sunday, as a light rain fell at Citizens Bank Park, Los Angeles starter Tyler Glasnow reacted as if he had never seen the stuff before and melted down, walking four of the five hitters he faced and uncorked a run-scoring wild pitch. All the Phils’ uncharacteristic patience paid off when Nick Castellanos blasted a grand slam off Alex Vesia following all those walks to give the Phils an early 6-2 lead.
In all, Phils hitters walked 18 times in the three-game series, taking advantage of Dodgers’ wildness in winning two out of three.
These Two Teams Are Very Close
By the end of Sunday’s game, it was clear that, no matter who ended up winning the series, these two teams are more equal than one had assumed to begin the season.
The Phillies simply match up well with the Dodgers, and they are not intimidated. They are 8-2 in their last 10 games against L.A., have won six out of the last seven at Citizens Bank Park (they swept the Dodgers in a four-game series just ahead of last year’s All Star Break), and have outscored them 38-20 in those 10 games in Philly. The Phils also won two out of three against the Dodgers in an August series in California a season ago.
The Phillies are not a perfect team but, contrary to what you may have heard elsewhere, the Dodgers aren’t, either. What’s clear is that these are the two best teams in baseball right now, and should they meet again in October, it would be wrong to assume Los Angeles would be the clear favorite.