Dodgers Advance to NLCS After Moving Past Phillies

Zak Drapeau
Oct 10
4 min read

by Zak Drapeau 10/10/2025 Sportz Nation

The Dodgers have made it to the NLCS for the 2nd year in a row after their 3-1 NLDS victory over the Philadelphia Phillies. After soundly defeating the Reds in the Wild Card round, the Dodgers took on the #1 seed in the NL and would make short work of them.

A gentlemen-sweep was in order after the Dodgers took both of the first two games in Philadelphia. The series would take an unexpected turn when Philly won the first game in Los Angeles in dominant fashion to set up Game 4. Taking a 1-1 score into extras, the game would finish by a disastrous error by Philly pitcher Orion Kerkering.

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Game 1 (5-3 LAD)

Game 1 would see the Aces take the mound as Shohei Ohtani faced Christopher Sanchez. Ohtani may not have pitched enough innings to qualify this season but his presence and stuff on the mound intimidates every batter he faces.

Funny enough it would be Ohtani to give in first as a boisterous 2nd inning for Philly would start with a JT Realmuto triple scored 2 and set up a sac fly to make a 3-run inning.

After that, Ohtani once again looked like the MVP, rattling off 4 scoreless innings, tallying 9 strikeouts on the day and allowing his bats to come alive.

The Hernandez's were key in the Game 1 win. Kike would be first with a 2-run double in the 5th inning brough the game to within 1 run. Then in the 7th, Teoscar would crush a 3-run homer and they would never look back as they took Game 1.

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Game 2 (4-3 LAD)

After a raucous start to Game 1, Game 2 would slow things down as Blake Snell and Jesus Luzardo dominated early. The Dodgers would draw first blood and when it rains, it pours. Kike would get an RBI fielders' choice to break the deadlock and after a few more hits the Phillies would go to the pen.

In the biggest at bat of the day, Will Smith would send Orion Kerkering's fastball to the outfield and score 2 more runs before Ohtani drove in another run after him to give the Dodgers a 4-run 7th inning.

The Phillies would give the home stadium something to cheer for as they put up 1 in the 8th and 2 more in the 9th. It would take Treinan, Vesia and Sasaki to close out the final inning for the Dodgers with the tying run left on base in a true playoff game between these two powerhouses.

A special shoutout needs to go to Blake Snell here who was magnificent through 6 innings. He would end the day with 9Ks, only 5 baserunners including 99 i===pitches thrown and a huge strikeout on Bryce Harper.

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Game 3 (8-2 PHI)

The lone win of the series for the Phillies was the first game in Los Angeles and this was also the most dominant win by either team. By a score of 8-2, things got started with a Tommy Edman home run in the 2nd that had Phillies-fans' heads in their hands.

Then it started. A 3-run 4th inning started by a Kyle Schwarber home run would give Philly the momentum and they would never give it up. They would turn to Ranger Suarez in the 3rd inning for relief and he was on fire. Pitching 5 innings in relief and only surrendering 1 run and 6 baserunners, Suarez was a problem.

The Phillies would then break out again in the 8th including a 2nd home run on the day for Schwarber, this time also scoring Trea Turner who also scored 2 on the inning for a 5-run inning.

Tommy Edman would knock another RBI in the 9th but too little... too late as we headed to a pivotol Game 4.

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Photo by Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press

Game 4 (2-1 LAD)

Game 4 was easily the most dramatic of the series and the only game to go to extra innings. After another scoreless 6-inning start from Tyler Glasnow and Christopher Sanchez, the game would head to the 7th inning where the real fun would start.

The 7th would kick off when Emmett Sheehan would relieve Glasnow and immediately run into trouble. Giving up a hit to his first batter, Sheehan would later give up an RBI-double to Nick Castellanos to give the Phillies the lead.

Luckily for LA, Sanchez would give up a walk and single before being relieved by Jhoan Duran after 6.1. After intentionally walking Shohei Ohtani to load the bases for Mookie Betts, the Phillies' prized-closer would disastrously walk Betts with no where to put pinch runner Justin Dean except for on the scoreboard to tie the game.

Both teams would keep the scoreboard the same until the 11th inning when once again, Phillies' Orion Kerkering would find trouble.

Relieving Luzardo and only needing one out, Kerkering would inherit runners on 1st and third and face Max Muncy. After a dribbler down the middle, Kerkering would have trouble fielding the ball then throw the ball too high for Realmuto as Hyeseong Kim came in to score the series-winning run.

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Heartbreaking for the Phillies but a return for the Dodgers, LA will meet either Milwaukee or Chicago in the NLCS as the two teams face off in a sudden death-Game 5 tonight.

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