What a way to end the 2024 season! The Phillies hold on to pick up their 95th win of the season, most since 2011, in the final game of the regular season.
WASHINGTON — The sort of moment Rob Thomson and every Phillies fan wanted to avoid nearly occurred in the second inning of Sunday's regular-season finale against the Nationals when Aaron Nola was struck on the right side by a 99 mph line drive.
The batted ball from Drew Millas ricocheted off Nola's right oblique/hip and went for an infield single to put runners on the corners. Thomson and Phillies assistant athletic trainer Joe Rauch immediately came out to check on him and Nola remained in the game. With a caught stealing and a strikeout, he was out of the inning a few pitches later.
“We came out of it healthy,” Thomson said. “Nola took the line drive but it didn’t catch any bone or anything. It got some skin, he’ll have a bruise but he’s fine. Tried to get him through 5 2/3 (to reach 200 innings) but I told him we weren’t going over 100 pitches.”
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The Phillies have been locked into the 2-seed in the National League playoffs since Friday night, but this final win did check off one more box that might matter, clinching them home-field advantage over the Yankees in the World Series if both teams make it.
There are many steps to take, though, before that can become a reality and Thomson didn't manage Sunday as if it was a crucial game. Bryce Harper and J.T. Realmuto had the final day off. Nick Castellanos started for the 162nd time but exited in the second inning. Trea Turner departed in the seventh.
“It’s pretty cool to say out loud,” Castellanos said of the feat.
The Phillies won, 6-3, to finish 95-67. It's their sixth-highest win total in franchise history. The game ended with Kody Clemens making a game-saving, leaping catch into the left field wall with the bases loaded.
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The Phils have a bye during the wild-card round and won't play again until Saturday. The Phillies will take Monday off, hold a mandatory team workout Tuesday at Citizens Bank Park, play an intrasquad game Wednesday, have a voluntary workout Thursday and another mandatory one Friday at the same time as Saturday's game.
“Don’t be so happy-go-lucky and think of these five days as a vacation rather than just some down time,” Castellanos said. “Still remain focused and concentrate on whatever we have scheduled that day.
“I think we just know how important every day is. Win today and tomorrow will take care of itself. We’ve got a bunch of guys who buy into that philosophy.”
The Phils' NLDS opponent will be either the Brewers, Mets or Diamondbacks. The Mets and Braves will meet Monday in Atlanta for a doubleheader to decide the final two playoff spots. The Phillies cannot face the Braves in the NLDS because if Atlanta makes the playoffs it will be as the 5-seed.
Nola allowed a homer Sunday to the first batter he faced, Luis Garcia Jr., but made it through five innings for his 14th win. He finished at 199⅓ innings for the season, two outs shy of 200. Thomson tried to let Nola reach the milestone like Zack Wheeler did Saturday but Nola labored through the fifth inning and was removed after a leadoff triple in the sixth.
Quiet offensively in the first two games of the series, the Phillies loaded the bases with no outs in the first inning Sunday, pushed across two runs, then scored four more in the fifth. Kyle Schwarber drove in two to match a career-high from last season with 104 RBI.
The Phillies went 33-33 after the All-Star break and lost seven of their final 11 games but those facts alone don't portend doom. The Diamondbacks scored three runs total in losing four in a row to end last season, then went to the World Series. The 2022 Phillies were outscored 13-2 to end the regular season against an Astros team with nothing to play for, then steamrolled through the playoffs, winning 10 of 12.
Now come the real stakes. These guys have been waiting for October since the final pitch of the 2023 NLCS and it's finally arrived.
“The playoffs, I’ve learned, is kind of like an animal of its own,” Castellanos said. “It’s a clean slate for everybody.”
