2025 National League Division Series 2

2025 National League Division Series

Los Angeles Dodgers 93 - 69 in the NL	3 - 1 Series Summary	Philadelphia Phillies 96 - 66 in the NL

Overview[edit]

The Teams[edit]

Managers: Phillies: Rob Thomson | Dodgers: Dave Roberts

Phillies

Dodgers

Umpires[edit]

Nestor Ceja, Adrian Johnson, Nic Lentz, Mark Wegner (crew chief), Jim Wolf and Dan Merzel

Series results[edit]

Game	Score	Date	Starters	Time (ET)
1	Los Angeles Dodgers 5 Philadelphia Phillies 3	October 4	Shohei Ohtani (1-0) Cristopher Sanchez (0-0)	6:38 pm
2	Los Angeles Dodgers 4 Philadelphia Phillies 3	October 6	Blake Snell (1-0) Jesus Luzardo (0-1)	6:08 pm
3	Philadelphia Phillies 8 Los Angeles Dodgers 2	October 8	Aaron Nola (0-0) Yoshinobu Yamamoto (0-1)	9:08 pm
4	Philadelphia Phillies 1 Los Angeles Dodgers 2	October 9	Cristopher Sanchez (0-0) Tyler Glasnow (0-0)	6:08 pm

Results[edit]

Game 1 @ Citizens Bank Park[edit]

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Dodgers	0	0	0	0	0	2	3	0	0	5	6	1
Phillies	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	5	0
WP: Shohei Ohtani (1-0); LP: David Robertson (0-1); SV: Roki Sasaki (1)
Home Runs: LA- Teoscar Hernández (1)

Attendance: 45,777

The big story before Game 1 was the postseason pitching debut of Shohei Ohtani, who had been confined to being a designated hitter during the Dodgers' run to a World Series title the previous year, but who had returned to the mound this season a year after undergoing Tommy John surgery and gradually worked his way to the point he could now be counted on to give his manager the outing of a regular starting pitcher. For the Phillies, the loss of Zack Wheeler to an injury for the rest of the year, combined with the struggles of former ace Aaron Nola, meant that it was an unfamiliar figure taking the ball for the opening game in Cristopher Sanchez. The lanky lefty was coming off a very strong season however, so it's not as if the Dodgers were facing a scrub.

The Phillies were responsible for the early fireworks in this game, and they came in the 2nd after a quiet 1st inning. After the Dodgers had stranded two runners in the top half of the inning, Ohtani walked the lead-off man, Alec Bohm, and Brandon Marsh hit a single. J.T. Realmuto followed with a drive to the right field corner, on which RF Teoscar Hernández demonstrated that he was in the line-up mainly for his bat as he let the ball get past him before it was recovered by CF Andy Pages, and Realmuto ended up on third base, generously credited with a triple while two runs scored. After a first out, Harrison Bader hit a sacrifice fly, and it made the score 3-0. That's how it would remain for a long stretch. Ohtani settled down after that rough inning and did not give up anything of much consequence over the next four innings, ending up with 9 strikeouts against just one walk. Meanwhile, Sanchez was doing great through the first five innings, including striking out Ohtani the first three times he came to bat. He started off the 6th the same way, with two quick outs, before walking Freddie Freeman. Tommy Edman followed with a single, and Kiké Hernández once again found some postseason magic, lining a clutch double to left field that scored both runners, cutting the lead to 3-2. That was the end for Sanchez, who gave way to veteran David Robertson who recorded the final out on a ball hit back to him by Max Muncy.

In the 7th, the Dodgers went at it again, when Pages led off with a single and Will Smith, who had come into the came as a pinch-hitter for Ben Rortvedt in the 5th and assumed his rightful catcher's position after that, was hit by a pitch. With two on and no one out, manager Rob Thomson called on one of his high-leverage relievers in Matt Strahm. He struck out Ohtani, getting him to wear the Golden Sombrero, and then got Mookie Betts to pop up to the infield for the second out. Next up was another hitter named Hernández with a history of delivering big postseason hits, and Teoscar stayed true to type by banging a huge homer to center field. Just like that, the Phillies who had led all game were now down, 5-3, and Ohtani was in line for the win. However, the bullpen had been the Dodgers' big weakness all season, and manager Dave Roberts decided to address the issue aggressively by using some of his spare starting pitchers in big spots in relief. So, the first reliever to come out in the bottom of the 7th was Tyler Glasnow. The first batter he faced, Realmuto, ripped a ball at 110mph down the third base line where Muncy made a stop worthy of any NHL goaltender, picked up the ball, and threw slightly wide of 1B Freeman. It was a magnificent play, even if Realmuto was safe, but Muncy was charged with an error for reasons known to the official scorer only. Glasnow then got Max Kepler to fly out, and Thomson sent Nick Castellanos to pinch hit for Bader, a decision that seemed puzzling as there was no obvious offensive gain, until it was learned that Bader had felt some discomfort in his leg earlier in the game. Castellanos grounded into a double play that ended the inning, and the Phillies' outfield defense was weakened by the loss of Bader, but that factor did not come into play. In the 8th, Orion Kerkering made short work of the Dodgers in the top of the inning and Glasnow returned to face Bryson Stott, who he struck out, and the top of the Phillies' batting order. That was a bit of a tougher assignment as Trea Turner drew a walk, bringing up Kyle Schwarber as the potential tying run. Glasnow struck him out, however, but he then allowed a single to Bryce Harper and walked Bohm, loading the bases. With lefty Marsh due up, Roberts brought in lefty specialist Alex Vesia, to which Thomson responded by sending in pinch-hitter Edmundo Sosa. This was clearly a crucial at-bat, but on the third pitch, Sosa it a fly ball to Pages in center field, ending the threat and the inning.

Closer Jhoan Duran came out to pitch the top of the 9th for the Phils, and with two outs Ohtani (who was still in the game as the DH thanks to the special rule adopted for his sole benefit a few years earlier), drew a walk, confirming to everyone that he was a much better hitter when not pitching. All kidding aside, Betts then grounded out to end the inning, and the Phillies would have one last chance with a two-run deficit against rookie Roki Sasaki, whose season had been derailed by wildness and injury, but who possessed some of the best stuff on the Dodger staff. He had never recorded a professional save, including in Japan and in the minor leagues, but if he was nervous in any way, he kept it well hidden. He overpowered Realmuto to strike him out on four pitches, but Kepler followed with a double to right. Kepler advanced to third when Castellanos grounded out to second, but the Phillies were now down to their last out. Stott then popped up the ball in foul territory near the third base line, where Muncy caught it without difficulty, and the Dodgers had taken the first game of the series.

Game 2 @ Citizens Bank Park[edit]

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Dodgers	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0	0	4	7	0
Phillies	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	3	7	0
WP: Blake Snell (1-0); LP: Jesus Luzardo (0-1); SV: Roki Sasaki (2)
Home Runs: none

Attendance: 45,653

Game 2 was a true pitchers duel for the first six innings, and then was full of thrilling action for the final three. The duel was between Blake Snell for Los Angeles and Jesus Luzardo for Philadelphia, and neither gave up a run in those six innings, and in fact they allowed hardly any baserunners. The Dodgers were the ones to finally break through, scoring four runs in the 7th as the Phillies' bullpen failed, and then the Dodgers almost gave them back those runs in the final two innings. This was especially the case in the 9th when Dave Roberts decided to give the ball to his beleaguered closer, Blake Treinen, with a three-run lead, and it almost cost him dearly, as he needed to use two more relievers to close out the win, and the Phillies would have tied the game and possibly won it were it not for one outstanding defensive play.

The Dodgers did put a couple of men on base against Luzardo in the 1st, on a single by Mookie Betts and a walk to Teoscar Hernandez, but Luzardo came back to get Freddie Freeman to fly out and Tommy Edman on a ground ball. Luzardo was brilliant after that, however, not giving up anything else for the next five innings. Snell was just as good, even though he walked Bryce Harper in the 1st, without consequence, and would eventually walk three more batters. What he did not do is allow a hit, the Phillies' first safety only coming in the 5th, a two-out single to Edmundo Sosa. The Phillies had their best inning against him in the 6th, when he seemed to run out of steam, but they could not score: Trea Turner walked and stole second and Kyle Schwarber walked as well, putting two men on with one out. But Snell struck out Harper - his 9th K of the evening - and then got Alec Bohm to hit a grounder to Miguel Rojas at third base. Rojas decided to race to third ahead of Turner, and barely beat him to the bag, with both players sliding headfirst simultaneously.

That final out in the 6th was Snell's last batter, but Luzardo returned to start the 7th, having been perfect since the 1st. He gave up a lead-off single to Teoscar Hernandez, but Rob Thomson let him face Freddie Freeman, given it was a favorable lefty on lefty match-up and Freeman had been completely fooled by Luzardo's offerings the last time he faced him. Not this time, though, as Freeman hit a double to right field. That was the end of Luzardo's outing, as he gave way to Orion Kerkering, with runners on second and third. Kerkering struck out Edman for the first out. Next up was Kiké Hernandez, and he was completely handcuffed by Kerkering, hitting a soft grounder at 35 mph to the left of the pitcher. The infield was drawn in, and Turner raced in from his shortstop position to throw home, but Teoscar managed to slide under J.T. Realmuto's tag for the first run. The Phillies asked for a video review, but in vain. Kerkering then deliberately pitched around Max Muncy, pinch-hitting for Rojas, to load the bases, and he got Andy Pages to pop up for the second out. Will Smith, who had come in as a pinch-hitter earlier in the game, was the next batter and he hit a single to left, and two more runs scored. That was the end for Kerkering, replaced by Matt Strahm, but he allowed a single to Shohei Ohtani to make the score 4-0. Every one of those runs would turn out to be important.

Just as he had done in Game 1, Roberts called on one of his starters to pitch in relief with a lead, turning to Emmet Sheehan. It turned out to be a good decision as Sheehan retired the Phillies in order in the bottom of the 7th as the ballpark was eerily quiet. Sheehan did give up a run in the 8th, on a triple by pinch-hitter Max Kepler followed by a single by Turner, but it was still a good outing for him. Meanwhile, Tanner Banks pitched a scoreless 8th for Philadelphia, followed by Jhoan Duran in the 9th, although that one was a hard slog, with Duran needing 26 pitches and stranding two baserunners. With a 4-1 lead in the 9th, Roberts made a fateful decision as previously mentioned, giving Blake Treinen an opportunity to close, but it almost blew up in his face. Treinen gave up a single to Bohm followed by a double to Realmuto, putting runners on second and third with no one out. Nick Castellanos followed with a double to left, achieved by beating Edman's tag on a very close play at second base, and both runners scored. Roberts could now replace Treinen, who had faced his three batters (and had retired none), sending in lefty Alex Vesia. Bryson Stott was up next and Rob Thomson asked for a bunt. Stott laid down a good one, but the Dodgers made the sort of outstanding defensive play that is practiced a lot in spring training but almost never used in a game situation, with 3B Muncy rushing in to field the bunt, then whirling around to throw to SS Betts, who reached the third base bag ahead of Castellanos and tagged him out. That play turned out to be huge, as Harrison Bader, unable to play the field because of a pulled hamstring, pinch-hit for Brandon Marsh and singled, with Stott stopping at second base. Kepler then hit the ball to 1B Freeman, to threw to second for the second out, with Stott making it to third base. This was when Roberts brought in Roki Sasaki, who had recorded the save in Game 1, and he got Turner to ground to second. Edman fielded the ball cleanly, then made a terrible throw to first, but Freeman managed to corral it while falling to the ground and the game was over with the Dodgers having beaten the Phillies twice on the road.

Game 3 @ Dodger Stadium[edit]

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Phillies	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	5	0	8	12	0
Dodgers	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	8	2
WP: Ranger Suarez (1-0); LP: Yoshinobu Yamamoto (0-1)
Home Runs: LA - Tommy Edman (1); PHI - Kyle Schwarber 2 (2), J.T. Realmuto (1)

Attendance: 53,689

The Phillies came into Dodger Stadium for Game 3 with their work cut out for them after having lost two close games at home. It must not have been reassuring to their fans that they were starting Aaron Nola for a must-win game, not that their former ace had not covered himself in glory over the years, but this season he had been simply awful in the first half, and just adequate after that, nothing too reassuring. In contrast, the Dodgers were starting Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who was building a nice postseason résumé over his first two seasons as a Dodger, including a win in the Wild Card Series over the Cincinnati Reds a few days earlier. As it turned out, Nola did not stay on the mound long, being replaced after just two innings, but it was Yamamoto who had a misstep, in the 4th inning, before the Phillies blew the game completely open against Clayton Kershaw in the 8th.

In the 1st inning, Mookie Betts, his early-season woes completely behind him, hit a one-out triple off Nola, but L.A.'s most reliable RBI man, Teoscar Hernandez, struck out, and after Freddie Freeman was hit by a pitch, catcher Will Smith, starting for the first time this postseason, struck out as well, leaving Mookie stranded. Meanwhile, Yamamoto got off to a fine start, facing just ten batters through the first three innings. As mentioned, Phillies manager Rob Thomson removed Nola after just two innings, replacing him with Ranger Suarez, a veteran of a number of excellent postseason outings over the last few years. Things did not start well for him, though, as on his very first pitch, Tommy Edman took him deep to left-center field for a 1-0 Dodgers lead. But Suarez settled down after that, getting the next three batters in order, and he would end up pitching five innings without giving up anything else worth mentioning and earning the win. With this performance, if the Phillies were somehow to escape this stranglehold and move further, he would definitely need to be considered for a starting role.

It was very easy to spot the moment when Yamamoto ceased to control the flow of the game: in the top of the 4th, after serving two balls to Kyle Schwarber, he tried to sneak a fastball past the Hulk, but it sat in the middle of the strike zone and Schwarber absolutely unloaded on it, with a short compact swing that sent it extremely deep to right field, off the top of the roof behind the bleacher seats, somewhere over 450 feet from home plate. It was a no-doubt homer to end all no-doubt homers and it left Yamamoto visibly shaken. Bryce Harper and Alec Bohm followed with singles and Harper scored when his aggressive baserunning prompted CF Andy Pages to attempt a throw to third base, a throw which bounced off Harper's leg and out of play for an error, allowing Harper to score and Bohm to advance all the way to third base. Brandon Marsh followed with a sacrifice fly to deep left, increasing the Phillies' lead to 3-1. And the inning was not over as J.T. Realmuto hit a ball that bounced near the right field fence and into the seats for an automatic double. That had been five straight hard-hit balls, but Yamamoto finally got himself under control, getting Max Kepler to fly out and striking out Nick Castellanos. It had been a very costly inning for the Dodgers however, and Yamamoto left after giving up singles to the first two batters in the 5th, Bryson Stott and Trea Turner, leaving a huge mess for Anthony Banda to clean up. The two runners quickly executed a double steal, putting Philly in a position to break the game wide open, but Banda did exceptionally well to keep the Dodgers in the game, as he struck out Schwarber, got Harper to fly out to shallow right, and after giving an intentional walk to Bohm, struck out Marsh to strand all three runners.

Banda's tremendous work kept the Dodgers in the game for a while longer, but they could not score any runs against Suarez. In the 7th, the Phillies again threatened to blow the game open, as they had done on two previous occasions. It should have a feel-good inning for Dodgers fans, as Kershaw, who had already announced he would retire after the postseason, came out to pitch, maybe for a last time in front of the hometown fans, but he gave up a single to Turner and walked Schwarber, making everybody nervous. Kershaw got Harper to fly out and Smith then made a great play by picking off Schwarber at first base, but Turner advanced to third, prompting another intentional walk to Bohm. Marsh had another chance to deliver a big hit, but instead hit a line drive to Teoscar Hernandez in right field to end the inning. There's a proverb about going to the well too many times, and that's what Dave Roberts did when he left Kershaw to start another inning in the 8th after his close escape in the 7th. This time Realmuto took him deep for a homer to start things off, and everything unraveled after that, with a walk, an error by 3B Max Muncy, a sacrifice bunt, a two-run single by Turner, and finally, Schwarber's second homer of the night, maybe not as deep as the first but good enough to make the score 8-1. Kershaw was still on the mound for some reason, and he gave up a double to Harper and a single to Bohm, but Harper was thrown out at home, for just the second out of the inning. Finally, Kershaw got Marsh to fly out to the wall in center field to end the inning. The game was basically over by then. The struggling Blake Treinen pitched the 9th for L.A. and finally got some outs, retiring the Phils in order, and the Dodgers scored a meaningless run off Taijuan Walker in the bottom of the 9th; Walker struggled enough that Thomson decided to bring in one of his leverage guys, Tanner Banks, to record the final out, but that was the only consolation for L.A. The Phillies had sent a message that they were not dead yet.

Game 4 @ Dodger Stadium[edit]

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	R	H	E
Phillies	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	4	2
Dodgers	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	2	7	1
WP: Alex Vesia (1-0); LP: Jesus Luzardo (0-2)
Home Runs: none

Attendance: 50,563

Game 4 marked a return to the pattern of the two games played in Philadelphia as it was low scoring and very close, but ultimately ended as a victory for Los Angeles. This time, however, it took extra innings to determine a winner, and the Dodgers won on an unusual play, a fielding error by pitcher Orion Kerkering with two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the 11th. But before that, the game was a battle of pitchers, starting with both starting pitchers, as had been the case in Game 2. Cristopher Sanchez for the Phillies and Tyler Glasnow for the Dodgers did not allowed a run through the first six innings before both teams scored once. The zeroes piled up again after that, until the Dodgers' final successful rally.

In the 1st inning, the Phillies actually created a good scoring opportunity against Glasnow, who was starting for the first time of the postseason but had made a very good outing in relief in Game 1. Kyle Schwarber doubled with one out and advanced to third on a ground out by Bryce Harper. Glasnow issued a walk to Alec Bohm, but he struck out Brandon Marsh to end the inning. For the Dodgers, the main scoring chance in the early innings came in the 3rd when their first hitter, Alex Call, was hit by a pitch from Sanchez. He was forced out by Kiké Hernandez and Andy Pages struck out but Shohei Ohtani reached on an error by 3B Bohm, with Kiké making it to third base. However, Mookie Betts was unable to drive in the run, grounding out to first base. In the bottom of the 6th, the Dodgers put two runners on base on back-to-back singles by Betts and Teoscar Hernandez with one out, but Sanchez extinguished the blaze with a couple of ground balls.

Finally, both teams broke through in the 7th. For the Phillies, it was against reliever Emmet Sheehan, as Glasnow was removed after six scoreless innings and 83 pitches. J.T. Realmuto led off with a single, but he was forced out by Max Kepler, who advanced to second on an error by Sheehan on that play. He scored on a double by Nick Castellanos, but Sheehan retired the next two batters. For the Dodgers, Sanchez was still on the mound and he walked Call with one out. Kiké Hernandez followed with a single, and that ended Sanchez's fine outing, with flame-thrower Jhoan Duran replacing him. Justin Dean, the player who never batted but ran and played defense, ran for Call at second base, and both runners advanced 90 feet on a ground out by Pages. With first base open, Ohtani was issued an intentional walk, but Betts received another free pass, and that one was unintentional as it allowed the Dodgers to tie the score. Finally, Duran struck out Teoscar, ending the inning and leaving the sacks full.

Roki Sasaki was the next man to pitch for Los Angeles and he was once again dominant, with three innings of hitless and scoreless ball. But Duran stayed for another inning and he also kept the Dodgers off the board, as did Matt Strahm in the 9th and Jesus Luzardo in the 10th. Alex Vesia then took over for Sasaki for the 11th, and while he walked Harper and threw a wild pitch later in the inning, he was able to escape without giving up a run. Luzardo then came out for a second inning of work, and he gave up a one-out single to Tommy Edman. Hyeseong Kim ran for Edman, but he could not move as Will Smith lined out to CF Kepler for the second out. Max Muncy followed with a single, however, and Kim advanced to third. At this point, Rob Thomson called on his top remaining reliever, Kerkering, to get the final out, but he walked Kiké Hernandez. Pages was now up with the bases loaded. Kerkering shattered his bat with a pitch, and the ball went back to him, but he panicked, deciding to throw home when he had an easy out at first base. He then compounded the problem by making a wild throw to Realmuto. Kim crossed the plate safely, and the game was over on that unusual play.