They got the help they needed to have a party on Saturday night and a stress-free Sunday. Instead, they were embarrassed in a 12–1 blowout against the Tampa Bay Rays.
It could have been worse. The Padres put up 10 runs against the Diamondbacks bullpen to win their game 10–7. All the Phillies need on the final day of the regular season is a win, or another Arizona loss, to grab the last remaining playoff berth in the National League. San Diego, with their playoff seeding and opponent already locked up, have nothing to play for.
So do the Rays, who are stinging the Phillies.
The consequences of dragging this out for as long as they have could be catastrophic to their chances of getting out of the wild card. But all that really matters now is getting in.
The Phillies, with Game 162 now a Game 7, will start Zack Wheeler. That takes him out of a potential Game 1 start in the wild card series. Jesús Luzardo will likely be activated off the IL and pitch out of the bullpen. Alex McFarlane and Jhoan Duran did not throw on Saturday and should be fresh for the must-win game. Even Andrew Painter, who sat in the bullpen on Saturday, could pitch.
If they make it, you wonder if the Phillies will have anything left to throw at the Braves. Aaron Nola, Saturday’s starter, could theoretically go Game 1, but his stuff could be diminished after pitching an inning on Saturday. Cristopher Sánchez is slated for Game 2 on normal rest. Maybe it’s not the worst thing, with Chris Sale lined up to pitch Game 1. They will not be favored in that one.
The dream scenario is for rain to delay the start of the game long enough for the D-Backs to lose, allowing the Phillies to rest all of their best arms. But in a week in which almost nothing has gone the Phillies’ way, don’t expect that to happen.
Nobody could have imagined that it would go down like this just a few days ago. The Phillies entered play on Wednesday with a magic number of 2 after a 6–4 win against the Milwaukee Brewers. Since then, they have been outscored 23–3 over four games.
Needing to get through nine innings, the Phillies gave the ball to Nola to start. Working on two days’ rest, he gave a valiant effort, but just did not have it. Junior Caminero’s two-run home run in the first inning through the wind took the air out of the announced sold-out crowd.
In what could be his final appearance after six years with the club, José Alvarado struggled to throw strikes and allowed three runs while recording only one out. José Urquidy, who will likely be off the roster on Sunday, threw 50 pitches. Tanner Banks was the only Phillies reliever out of the bullpen who did not allow a hit.
But the lineup, the central figure of this potential historic collapse, looked helpless once again. Some of it was lack of execution. Some of it was bad luck.
With Justin Crawford at second base in the bottom of the third, Trea Turner hit a scorching line drive right into the pitcher Griffin Jax’s back. The ball bounced right to the shortstop Taylor Walls, who picked it and threw over to first for the final out of the inning. It should have been the first Phillies run in 18 innings.
The scoreless streak, the longest of the season, was instead snapped at 21 innings on an error in the seventh. By then, the Phillies were down 10 runs. Scrapping one run across felt like a win.
Interim manager Don Mattingly, at the very least, was encouraged by the fight.
“I thought our at-bats were — I’m not going to say our at-bats overall — but in a game like that, our guys fought the whole way. … I was actually encouraged at the end of that game,” Mattingly said. So I’m being overly optimistic, but I was encouraged tonight.”
Whatever Mattingly saw out of his hitters, it has to turn into results. Otherwise, the Phillies could be staring down one of the most embarrassing collapses in baseball history.
If you weren’t alive for 1964, you probably heard about Chico Ruiz and a 6.5-game lead for the pennant with 12 to play. Now it may finally be time to pass down your own horror story to the next generation.
Tom Dockery
September 27, 2026 at 8:02 am
Why would today’s game even be played at all if the Diamondbacks lose while the Phillies and the Rays are waiting out a rain delay?
There is no conflict for home field advantage with any opponent for either team in any future possible series as the Phillies beat the Red Sox head to head and the Rays were swept by the Dodgers.
As a side note,the 1964 collapse may have started two nights earlier at Dodger Stadium as Willie Davis stole home in the bottom of the sixteenth inning-with two out and two strikes on a lefthanded batter no less-giving the Dodgers win at around 4:20 AM EDT.My 14 year old ears could not believe what they were hearing.