The Phillies’ magical 2022 season is now only one step away from immortality, as the team beat the San Diego Padres 4-3 on Sunday to advance to the World Series. With the Astros sweep of the Yankees complete, the Phillies will head to Houston on Friday to begin the best-of-seven series.
The Phillies did what they do best on Sunday afternoon, shutting their opponents down with rock solid pitching and bashing home runs. All four of of the Phils’ runs came via the long ball, while unfortunate weather led to the only real scare for Phillies pitchers.
Rhys Hoskins opened up the scoring with a bang, launching a two-run shot into the left field seats in the bottom of the third. Juan Soto tacked on a solo blast of his own in the next half inning, but things settled down for a while after that.
Zack Wheeler carved Padres hitters up all afternoon, allowing only three hits and walking none over 6.0 strong innings. The Padres took a brief 3-2 lead in the seventh inning when three wild pitches from Seranthony Domínguez allowed two runs to score. Domínguez has been electric all postseason long, and he shouldn’t be blamed for this poor outing given the heavy rain he was pitching in and the umpires’ refusal to send the game into a delay.
Despite the unfortunate circumstances surrounding the Padres’ rally, the Phillies came roaring back in the bottom of the eighth. J.T. Realmuto singled to begin the inning, and Friars’ Manager Bob Melvin shockingly stuck with right-hander Robert Suarez instead of giving the ball to dynamite southpaw Josh Hader. The move failed spectacularly, as Bryce Harper worked a tremendous at bat against Suarez, culminating in a two-run, opposite field home run to give the Phillies a fateful 4-3 lead.
Things weren’t quite over, as Phillies skipper Rob Thomson brought in veteran righty David Robertson to get the save. After striking out Wil Myers looking, Robertson walked both Brandon Drury and Ha-Seong Kim. With things getting dicey, Thomson pushed all his chips in and brought in game three starter Ranger Suárez to finish things off.
It took Suárez all of two pitches to end the game, fielding cleanly an inexplicable bunt attempt from Trent Grisham, and inducing a weak flyout from Austin Nola. Pandemonium erupted as soon as the ball landed in Nick Castellanos’ glove for the final out, as the Phillies had punched their ticket to the 2022 World Series.
The Houston Astros finished off their beatdown of the New York Yankees on Sunday night, setting up one of the more unlikely World Series matchups possible. Houston entered the postseason as heavy favorites to win a championship, and swept their way through both the divisional and championship rounds. The Phillies on the other hand has the lowest record of any playoff team, and were serious underdogs in each of their matchups. However, the matchup isn’t as lopsided as records may indicate.
The Astros have an incredible starting rotation headlined by Justin Verlander, Framber Valdez, Cristian Javier, and Lance McCullers Jr. The Phillies aren’t so shabby themselves with Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola and Ranger Suárez. The Astros have an elite bullpen featuring Ryan Pressly and former Phillie Héctor Neris, among others, while the Phils have a deadly one-two punch of their own in Seranthony Domínguez and José Alvarado. The Astros lineup is stacked from top to bottom with names like Yordan Alvarez, Alex Bregman and Jeremy Peña, while the Phils have mashers Kyle Schwarber, Rhys Hoskins and Bryce Harper.
The Phillies are looking to make good on an unbelievable Cinderella run that has them at the center of the baseball world. After over a decade of heartache, the team has the chance to bring home its first championship since the glory days of 2008. On the other side, the Astros are eager to move past their tainted 2017 banner year, and prove to fans everywhere that they’re just as good on their own merits. Whichever team comes out on top is sure to have earned their place, and we’re all set to a series for the ages.