Categories: Analysis

The most unforgettable individual plays and performances from the Phillies’ pennant run

José Alvarado and Jean Segura pose for a photo. (Tim Kelly/Phillies Nation)

However their season ends next week — whether Sunday’s champagne celebration was their last of the season or not — the 2022 Phillies’ run to the World Series has been etched into the franchise’s history books for good.

As will the moments that got them there. It started with a two-run single in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series, and it ended with the swing of “The Chosen One”’s life. But plenty in between have helped the Phillies get back to the World Series for the first time since 2009.

Without any repeat performers — after all, it seems everyone played a part, and this can’t just be a Bryce Harper piece — here are some of the best, categorized into an arbitrary top 15.

15. Marsh keeps the good times rolling

The Phillies dealt for Brandon Marsh at the trade deadline for defense, contact hitting and team control.

A three-run homer that gave the Phillies the lead for good in an NLDS clincher, fresh off a 9-1 Game 3 win, wasn’t exactly what they envisioned — but it’s just been that kind of month for the Phillies.

14. No defense, no problem for Alvarado

The Phillies of old would’ve lost Game 1 of the NLCS, after Alec Bohm’s throwing error put the tying run on base with the heart of the Padres’ order due up.

The Phillies of old didn’t have José Alvarado. Alvarado retired Manny Machado and Josh Bell — each of whom felt destined to walk it off — to finish off the first of four wins that won the Phillies the National League pennant.

13. Zach Eflin clinches, Part II

Aaron Nola and Zach Eflin combining to send the Phillies to the postseason on Oct. 3 made the end of the playoff drought even sweeter — and the duo provided an encore in the Wild Card Series

Eflin’s scoreless ninth in Game 2 against the Cardinals — just the second save of his career — was a perfectly fitting way for the Phillies to win their first playoff series since 2010.

12. Alec Bohm loves that place, too

Alec Bohm did it all in St. Louis. Two doubles and a couple web gems made for an overall outshining of Nolan Arenado on both sides of the ball.

But Bohm taking 101 mph near his head — only to get right up, turn around and fire up the Phillies’ dugout during the ninth-inning rally that kicked all of this off — might be the best Bohment of the postseason.

11. Game 3 Starts with Stott

Everyone will remember the bat spike. As they should. But if Rhys Hoskins’ homer in Game 3 of the 2022 NLDS was Shane Victorino’s grand slam in Game 2 of the 2008 NLDS, Bryson Stott’s double was the Brett Myers walk that preceded it.

The nine-pitch at bat that culminated in an RBI double to kick off Game 3’s scoring felt like it came from a veteran of 35, not a rookie of 25:

10. The Nick Castellanos Game

It’s quite easy to imagine that the Phillies wouldn’t be in the World Series without Nick Castellanos, if only for his all-around performance in Game 1 of the NLDS that just about singlehandedly gave the Phillies a 1-0 series lead.

If we must pick a singular play, for shock value, this is the one:

9. Nola tops the MVPs — twice — in St. Louis Clincher

Nola wasn’t his sharpest in the NLCS — you can largely thank his brother for that — but the Phillies may not have been there if not for what Nola did in the Wild Card Series.

In his postseason debut, Nola fired 6 ⅔ innings of shutout ball, twice going through the heart of the lineup with runners on to keep the Cardinals in check — and, ultimately, ending a couple careers.

8. Seranthony’s heroic, historic save

Seranthony Domínguez hadn’t thrown two innings in a game since getting Tommy John surgery in the summer of 2020. Game 3 of the NLCS was a good day to end that streak.

The Phillies tried to piece the final nine outs together between just Alvarado and Domínguez, but when Alvarado got just three, the plan went awry — or so it seemed. Domínguez fired two scoreless innings to preserve a two-run Phillies win in a pivotal swing Game 3. It was the fourth six-out save in Phillies postseason history, with Tug McGraw earning the first three in 1980.

7. J.Team of destiny Realmuto

The “Team of Destiny” mantra has been thrown the Phillies’ way for a few months now. It may have started out tongue-in-cheek, but it suddenly feels real — and few moments made it feel more real than the first inside-the-park homer by a catcher in postseason history.

6. Zack Wheeler Dominates in San Diego

Wheeler has a 1.78 ERA this postseason. He’s one Hoskins play away from that number being a ridiculous 0.71. To tab one Wheeler outing this postseason as the cream of the crop is an arduous task.

But the nod goes to Game 1 of the NLCS. Wheeler scattered one lone hit across six shutout innings in San Diego, somehow outdoing his 6 ⅓ shutout innings in the Wild Card Series. The resulting 1-0 series lead went a long way in making sure it didn’t go back to California.

5. Schwarber rips one into the night

Kyle Schwarber’s leadoff shot in Game 3 was the perfect way to reintroduce Citizens Bank Park to the NLCS after 13 years apart. His third homer of the series, a solo shot in Game 4, provided a key insurance run and kept the home crowd rocking.

But though that Game 3 homer came just minutes after catching Matt Stairs’ first pitch, Schwarber best invoked his inner Stairs in Game 1 with a 488-bomb ripped deeper into the night than Petco Park had ever seen.

4. Ranger powers the Phillies to the Fall Classic

It was almost too on-the-nose. The starter turned reliever turned starter found himself on in relief of the biggest situation of his life, trying to clinch the National League pennant with the tying and winning runs on base and only one out.

Two pitches. Game over.

3. Clutch Jean, Part I

It’s amazing that Jean Segura’s top moment of this postseason didn’t come from Game 3 of the NLCS, because Segura did just about everything in Game 3 of the NLCS.

But his go-ahead two-run single off Ryan Helsley during that famed ninth-inning Wild Card Game 1 comeback was euphoric in the moment. Knowing what that rally ignited, it’s even better now:

2. Rhys Hoskins cleans his slate

Rhys Hoskins is tied for the MLB lead this postseason with five home runs. Four came in the NLCS. Two came in Game 4, and one came in the pennant clincher. But his best one was his first one.

Hoskins entered Game 3 of the NLDS in the midst of a brutal stretch both at the plate and in the field. A swing and a spike later, all was forgotten.

1. Bryce Brings Bedlam at the Bank

It wasn’t just the swing of “The Chosen One”’s life. It was one of the greatest swings in baseball history.

Of all the incredible Phillies moments from this postseason, it’s hard to dispute that this one takes the cake.

For now, that is.