PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Carlos Estévez crouched on the mound and turned his head toward center field as the Phillies reliever tracked the flight of Francisco Lindor’s long drive into the outfield.
Estévez dropped his head as Lindor’s shot cleared the fence for a game-winning grand slam that sent the New York Mets into the NL Championship Series — and Philadelphia into another empty offseason.
A team that spent a bulk of the season with the best record in baseball continued to whiff their way down the postseason ladder — from a 2022 World Series loss, to a 2023 NL Championship Series Game 7 defeat, to maybe the worst one of them all, a four-game loss to the Mets in the NLDS.
What went wrong? Pick your cause of postseason death from a menu of misfortune.
__ The high-priced lineup full of sluggers — J.T. Realmuto went 0 for 11; Kyle Schwarber was 2 for 16 — chased pitch after pitch out of the strike zone and failed the Phillies in the clutch.
__ The reliable bullpen with two trustworthy All-Stars had a dumbfounding collapse against the Mets.
__ Tomorrow’s supposed building blocks — such as Bryson Stott, Alec Bohm and Brandon Marsh — flashed such little production they could become this winter’s trade bait.
“Everybody in baseball, all the fans, everybody are saying, this is our year, this is our year, this is our year,” slugger Nick Castellanos said.
Until it wasn’t.
The key number might be this, 32-33. Counting the postseason, the Phillies weren’t even a .500 team over the final 65 games, a sign they likely peaked too early and even with an NL East crown, weren’t built to make a serious deep postseason run with this roster.
While the Phillies (95-67) essentially brought back last season’s team to give it one more run with this nucleus, changes are clearly ahead.
But blow up the roster? Not happening.
“I don’t see us going backward, no,” manager Rob Thomson said.
With a bloated payroll and multiple years and millions left owed to Bryce Harper, Trea Turner, Schwarber, Castellanos and most of the rotation, where do the Phillies go from here?
Close the day care
Bohm, Stott and Marsh comprised a trio of 20-something Phillies that were integral to a championship. Bohm showed the most promise this season with his first career All-Star berth, only to slump so bad down the stretch — and into the playoffs — that he was benched for Game 2.
Stott and Marsh took a seat for Game 3.
The trio went 4 for 37 over the five games and, of them, Stott’s failure to develop into an All-Star caliber starter was one of the glaring disappointments this season.
A local artist painted a mural ahead of the postseason of the trio on the side of a Philadelphia bar. By Thursday morning, Phillies fans seemed poised to deface the art.
“Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall,” one wrote on social media.
Bohm has two years of arbitration eligibility ahead before free agency and he said after Game 4 he expected to return next season.
Slumping sluggers
There was plenty of blame beyond the day care. Castellanos (7 for 17) and Harper had a solid series but Trea Turner was 3 for 15 and the Phillies hit just .186 in the NLDS, including 6 for 31 with runners in scoring position.
The slumping sluggers continued a trend from last season when Schwarber, Turner, Harper and Castellanos went 5 for 53 (.094) with 11 walks, 22 strikeouts and two RBIs in Philadelphia’s four NLCS losses.
How can any team expect to win a World Series when the bats consistently go silent in October?
In baseball lingo, the Phillies need a professional hitter in the lineup. They need a hitter who has control of the strike zone, can make a productive out instead of always taking a big strike three, and not be so boom-or-bust at the plate.
The Phillies are 1-5 in their last six postseason games.
Thomson’s status
Thomson has another year left on his contract and it seems an extension is not in play, not exactly a major vote of confidence for a manager whose playoff teams are yielding diminishing returns.
The players seem to love the manager nicknamed Topper but it might just be World Series-or-else as he enters his fourth season. If the Phillies get off to a slow start, no doubt that seat will grow pretty hot.
Free agents
Estévez and fellow pitchers Jeff Hoffman and Spencer Turnbull are the only players eligible for free agency.
Hoffman wants to return and even an awful postseason — he allowed six runs over 1 1/3 innings over three games and lost Games 1 and 4 — shouldn’t hinder talks with the Phillies on a new deal.
The Phillies have made three straight postseason runs without a true No. 1 closer each season. The bullpen-by-committee plan has failed them in the playoffs (hello and goodbye, Craig Kimbrel)
Matt Strahm, the All-Star lefty, was lit up in the Game 1 loss and the bullpen never recovered. Phillies relievers had an 11.37 ERA, allowing 11 of 15 inherited to score.
While majority owner John Middleton hasn’t shied away from signing splashy contracts, the Phillies won’t overpay for Hoffman or Estévez.
Painter return
The Phillies are hopeful prized pitching prospect Andrew Painter can contribute to the rotation next season. The 21-year-old right-hander hasn’t pitched since he had needed Tommy John surgery off an elbow injury suffered in 2023 spring training. Painter is set to return to the mound this weekend in the Arizona Fall League. The Phillies intend to cap him at 20 innings and haven’t decided how they’ll use him in 2025.
The 6-foot-7 Painter was the 13th overall pick in the 2021 amateur draft and signed for a $3.9 million bonus.
Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Cristopher Sánchez and Taijuan Walker are all under contract for next season and beyond while Ranger Suarez is eligible for salary arbitration though next season.
The Phillies could move on from Walker, his free-agent signing easily the worst move by president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski since he took over ahead of the 2021 season. (His trade deadline deals for Estévez and outfielder Austin Hays weren’t so hot, either).
Walker was yanked from the rotation, blew a one-start reprieve, and was left off the postseason roster.
Bad timing
One final gloomy postscript to the season, Calum Scott is late to the party. The British singer was finally set to play Philadelphia on Thursday night, only now with no cause for celebration. “Dancing On My Own” was retired as the official postseason party anthem and, well, the season is over anyway.
