Phillies Fans: Trea Turner, Bryce Harper, and Kyle Schwarber went 1-for-14 in an elimination game

The Phillies’ season ended with a 2-1 loss in 11 innings to the Dodgers on Thursday night. Another October. Another NLDS exit. It was the latest display of a lifeless lineup in a must-win game.

Twelve hours removed, there’s a bit more clarity.

If you’ve been paying attention the last three years, the script has was basically written back in August.

Credit the pitching staff, who yet again went out swinging. Cristopher Sánchez gave them everything. Jhoan Duran bent but didn’t break until he walked Mookie Betts with the bases loaded. Matt Strahm bounced-back after a very bad moment in Game 1. Hell, even Jesús Luzardo even emptied the tank on short rest.

Then of course, Orion Kerkering picked the worst moment of his young career to turn a slow roller into Little League chaos, air-mailing JT Realmuto on what should have been a routine inning-ending play to first base.

That’s the clip ESPN will play on loop. That’s the scar.

That’s what will be remembered. For the rest of us, it’s important to not let anyone tell you the Phillies lost because of one meltdown. As the majority of you were quick to correctly point out, they lost last night because the bats disappeared again.

Four Hits. Twelve Strikeouts. Season Over.

The Phillies managed four hits in 11 innings. Four. They struck out 12 times. They made Tyler Glasnow look like prime Randy Johnson, then took zero off Roki Sasaki and Alex Vesia. That’s flat-out pathetic.

Here’s the roll call of shame:

Trea Turner, Bryce Harper, and Kyle Schwarber went 1-for-14 in an elimination game. One hit, four strikeouts, and zero presence in the biggest spots of the season.

Here’s what these three did during the 2025 NLDS:

• Game 1: 1-for-11 (Dodgers win)
• Game 2: 1-for-10 (Dodgers win)
• Game 3: 7-for-13 (Phillies win)
• Game 4: 1-for-14 (Dodgers win)

Again, no surprise to anyone, but when your top three guys are putting up those numbers then it becomes blatantly obvious why this team went down yet again in the NLDS for the second-straight season.

If they aren’t hitting, you’re relying on the rest of the lineup.

Brandon Marsh reminded the delusional contingent of this fanbase why he’s not an everyday player in Major League Baseball. He couldn’t hit a beachball last night. Rob Thomson almost had to keep running him up in critical moments because Bader was injured and the only other option was Otto Kemp or Weston Wilson.

Alec Bohm is the cleanup hitter, is a cowardly lion, and can’t hit for power. Bryson Stott should be in the lineup for his glove, but he’s not going to do much at the plate. JT Realmuto had a pretty strong NLDS but again, there are nine guys hitting and he certainly can’t be one of three doing it.

Nick Castellanos at least knocked in the lone run but again, when Castellanos is your only source of life and offense in October, there are way bigger problems.

Game 3 was a gift

Yeah, Game 3 felt like a turning point. Schwarber went nuclear, Harper woke up, and the Phillies hung eight runs on Los Angeles. That outburst came off Yoshinobu Yamamoto hanging pitches early and Dave Roberts hanging Clayton Kershaw out to dry late.

It wasn’t some magical switch being flipped. They fooled me. I convinced myself that it was but it definitely was not and sure enough, the offense went right back to ghosts in Game 4.

The Same Script, Every Year

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, and expecting different results. Last night was the exact same failure we’ve seen for three straight seasons.

World Series expectations, NLDS exit. Wash, rinse, repeat.

There are going to be a ton of changes this offseason.

Into the Void: Orion Kerkering’s error was a punctuation mark on a Phillies season that failed to live up to the hype

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