The Philadelphia Phillies lost to the Washington Nationals 6-3 on Saturday. With the loss, the Los Angeles Dodgers clinched the top seed in the National League, as well as the best record in baseball. The Dodgers will have home field advantage throughout the playoffs.
The Phillies currently have the second-best record in MLB at 94-67 with one game remaining in the regular season. However, the team has appeared out of sync down the stretch. With Saturday’s loss to the 71-90 Nationals, Philadelphia has gone just 4-8 over its last 12 games.
“We haven’t played necessarily the best in the last week or so but once that postseason starts, all that’s behind you and it’s about competing in that moment, and I think we’re ready for it,” Phillies All-Star shortstop Trea Turner said, via ESPN’s game recap.
Turner did his part to keep Philadelphia in the game Saturday. He hit a two-run eighth inning home run off Nationals’ reliever Jose Ferrer to tie the game at two. It was Turner’s 21st homer and his two RBI on the day gave him 62 on the season.
Unfortunately, the Phillies’ bullpen couldn’t preserve an excellent start from veteran ace Zack Wheeler, who went 6.1 innings and allowed just two runs on three hits, striking out 11 and walking two batters. Reliever Jeff Hoffman, who’s otherwise been terrific in 2024, allowed four runs on four hits in one inning of work. The Phillies added another run in the ninth when Nick Castellanos tripled and Alec Bohm drove him in on a ground out, but that’s as close as they’d get, ultimately falling 6-3.
