It wasn't supposed to be this way. It's hard to believe that the Philadelphia Phillies' season is over. Especially with how things started. But after losing the NLDS in four games to the division rival New York Mets, things couldn't have ended any worse for the Phillies.
When the Mets secured the final out of their 4-1 Game 4 win on Wednesday night in front of an electrified home crowd at Citi Field, the Phillies' visions of playing baseball into November died a sudden and jarring death.
Facing elimination, manager Rob Thomson and the Phillies put their season in the hands of Ranger Suárez. Surprisingly, it wasn't Suárez who cost the Phillies their season, however. He threw 97 pitches over his 4 1/3 innings but didn't allow the Mets to score. He gave up five hits, four walks and struck out eight. It wasn’t exactly pretty, but it was a gutsy, gritty effort.
Unfortunately, that's the only positive from the season-ending loss.
3 Phillies to blame for devastating season-ending NLDS Game 4 loss to Mets
It's hard to figure out who to point the finger at in the post-elimination blame game; there are just so many worthy candidates, thanks to the unsatisfying way the season ended. Here are the easiest Phillies to blame for the Game 4 loss.
Jeff Hoffman
Jeff Hoffman had a postseason to forget, that's for sure. He was the main culprit in the bullpen's Game 1 meltdown after Zack Wheeler's gem of a start. He was charged with three runs without recording an out in that appearance. His performance in Game 4 on Wednesday was mind-bogglingly worse.
He started well, entering the game with one out in the fifth inning and cleaning up Suárez's jam, recording two outs to preserve the Phillies' 1-0 lead.
Things didn't go as smoothly when the righty came back out for the sixth after a lengthy half-inning in the dugout. After a leadoff single, he uncorked a wild pitch. Then there was a hit batter, followed by another wild pitch. Suddenly he had runners on second and third with none out, so what did he do? He issued a walk to the Mets' eighth hitter to load the bases.
He got one out on a force at home plate before Thomson pulled him for Carlos Estévez.
Carlos Estévez
The Phillies' big trade deadline acquisition, who cost them two relatively high pitching prospects, came in with the bases loaded in the sixth inning. Despite all the bullpen meltdowns throughout the series, Estévez was the only Phillies reliever who had pitched a clean 1-2-3 inning. At least before his disastrous appearance in Game 4.
Clinging to a 1-0 lead, Estévez fell behind the Mets' best hitter, Francisco Lindor, 2-1. When Estévez threw a 99 mph fastball out over the plate, Lindor made him pay with a hit that almost seemed inevitable. The Mets shortstop crushed the big right-hander's offering over the right field wall for a grand slam.
Estévez got the final two outs of the inning, but the damage was done. Three of the runs were charged to Hoffman, who has a worse line in the box score. But anyone watching knows that that one Estévez mistake is what sealed the Phillies' fate. The Mets had a ticket to the NLCS within their grasp, while the Phillies' hopes vanished in an instant.
The entire Phillies offense
Despite Thomson's continued preaching that his offensive players needed to adjust their approach at the plate, nothing seemed to change. Key pieces didn't perform when needed most. Their free-swinging, chase-happy approach stunted their second-half success and ultimately led to their downfall in this NLDS.
It's hard to pick one Phillies batter to pick on; that's how atrocious the entire overall offense was, not just in Game 4 but the entire series. Phillies batters mustered five hits in the Game 1 and 3 losses. On Wednesday in Game 4? They had four hits.
Four.
In the series, Kyle Schwarber went 2-for-16. J.T. Realmuto went 0-for-11. Alec Bohm went 1-for-13. Trea Turner went 3-for-15. Bryson Stott went 2-for-11.
You get the picture. They had a .186 team batting average. They struck out 11 times in Game 4. Add that to the 27 from the first three games.
Aside from Bryce Harper (4-for-12) and Nick Castellanos (7-for-17), the offense was a shell of the high-powered engine that powered the Phillies to the best record in the first half.
On Wednesday, they got some traffic on the bases, largely thanks to five walks. However, when they got baserunners, like when Harper led off the sixth with a double, they failed to cash in. They went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position on Wednesday and left nine men on base in the most important game of their now-finished season.