‘This is why you play’: How this October delivered the gift of back-to-back Game 7 showdowns
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Jeff Passan, ESPN
PHILADELPHIA — Every year, October baseball is a treat, a mish-mash of drama, intrigue, strategy, excitement and nerves frayed and fried. Game 7s take each of those elements and supercharge them. Sports exist for series that go the distance. And this October has gifted a pair of them.
Two days. Two Game 7s.
Early Monday evening, the Arizona Diamondbacks handed the Philadelphia Phillies their first home loss of this postseason, booking a Game 7 in the National League Championship Series on Tuesday at Citizens Bank Park. As the Diamondbacks reveled in extending their season with a 5-1 win, the Texas Rangers were in the process of extinguishing the Houston Astros in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series, an 11-4 drubbing that kept alive hopes of the franchise’s first championship in 63 years of existence.
As little theater as the wild card and division series rounds this year provided, the LCS have made up for it. And Tuesday’s affair, featuring the star-laden Phillies aiming to make up for their World Series loss last season against the “scrappy,” “gritty” — their words — Diamondbacks attempting to turn an 84-win season into a championship, presents a tantalizing story, regardless of outcome, playing out in real time.
This is baseball at its best. Sure, games are always binary — win or lose — but Game 7s offer a twist: win or go home. They’re not uncommon, exactly, but they are rare enough that the Phillies, who played their first game in 1883 and have played more than 20,000 games in their history, have never participated in a Game 7 — until now.
The last time both championship series in a full season went to Game 7s was 2004, and both series were all-timers. (It also happened during the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season.) It speaks to how special this postseason has become, a consideration not lost on the Diamondbacks, who already disposed of a pair of division champions (the Milwaukee Brewers and Los Angeles Dodgers) and are aiming to fell a Phillies team that entered the NLCS as distinct favorites.
“It could go well, and we’ll celebrate, and it could go poorly, and it could even be my fault,” Diamondbacks closer Paul Sewald said. “But this is why you play. To play in this month. To play Game 7.”
It’s the biggest stage, and one set for indelible moments, as the Rangers and Astros illustrated Monday night.
It’s where Texas outfielder Adolis Garcia concluded the series of his life with a game that etched him in history books. Three days ago, a 99 mph fastball from Astros reliever Bryan Abreu tagged Garcia in his shoulder two innings after he punctuated a three-run home run with a sloth-caliber trot around the bases. The Rangers slugger’s Game 7 coda included four hits in five-at bats, a pair of home runs and five runs batted in.
It’s where Bruce Bochy has cemented his case for the Hall of Fame. The Rangers’ manager, who came out of retirement to take over a team that lost 94 games last season and 102 the year before, is now 6-0 in winner-take-all games, including three Game 7s. He is the first manager to win an LCS with three different organizations. He was the perfect shepherd for the team that spent $500 million on a middle infield in free agency before the 2022 season and another $250 million on pitching this winter and then got Max Scherzer and Jordan Montgomery, who together covered the first five innings of Game 7, at the trade deadline.
Every team’s path to Game 7 is different. The Rangers relied on their bats; the Astros seemed to survive on pure will. Philadelphia rode its stars, Arizona its moxie, and, perhaps more unexpectedly than on the other side of the bracket, their NLCS clash has also produced captivating baseball.
Game 6 showcased the Diamondbacks at their best: hitting home runs and stealing bases and getting five fantastic innings from starter Merrill Kelly and four more from a once-maligned bullpen that found itself at the most opportune moment. Tonight, the calculus for the Diamondbacks is simple: score early and quiet the raucous crowd at the Bank. In this series, when the Phillies get on the board in the first inning, they are 3-0; when they’re held scoreless, they’re 0-3.
“That’s what we need to do all the time,” Arizona shortstop Geraldo Perdomo said. “The first two games there were so loud, and I think [Monday] we answered early. … In any stadium, when the opposite team scores first, the crowd — it’s not loud how it used to be in the beginning. That’s what we need to do for [Game 7], too.”
Philadelphia won’t make it easy. The same mashers who have pummeled 10 home runs this series — Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, Trea Turner, J.T. Realmuto and Nick Castellanos — will look to add to the total. Phillies starter Ranger Suarez went toe-to-toe with D-backs rookie Brandon Pfaadt in the brilliantly pitched Game 3, tossing 5⅓ scoreless innings to Pfaadt’s 5⅔. For whatever gap there might be on paper, the NLCS participants are about as even as it gets on the field.
And now, it comes down to Game 7. When Perdomo thinks of Game 7, he remembers the winter league battles between Aguilas and Licey in his native Dominican Republic, that rivalry the country’s equivalent of Yankees-Red Sox. Pfaadt thinks back to just a year ago, when he started and won Game 7 for the Triple-A Pacific Coast League title.
This, though? This is the big leagues. This is for a shot at the World Series. If stars are made in October, legends are made in Game 7.
No, the seventh game won’t prove anything writ large the first six haven’t already. It will, though, send one team to Arlington, Texas, for Game 1 of the World Series on Friday and the other one home for the winter. The stakes are almost too colossal for one game, and yet those stakes are precisely what make Game 7s so exceptional.
This is why we watch. One Game 7 is in the books, and another is coming at 8 p.m. ET. Nothing churns the stomach and induces nausea and fires up the dopamine quite like it.
Isn’t it great?
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David Schoenfield
There’s plenty of history in the rivalry between the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies. It’s about 116 miles from Citi Field to Citizens Bank Park. The two teams been competing for the NL East since 1969. Star players from Tug McGraw to Jerry Koosman to Lenny Dykstra to Pedro Martinez to Zack Wheeler have played for both franchises. Mets fans loathe the Phanatic, and Phillies fans laugh derisively at Mr. Met.
Despite this longevity, the two teams have rarely battled for a division title in the same season. The only years they finished No. 1 and 2 or were battling for a division lead late in the season:
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1986: Mets finished 21.5 games ahead
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2001: Both finished within six games of the Braves
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2006: Mets finished 12 games ahead
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2007: Phillies finished one game ahead
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2008: Phillies finished three games ahead
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2024: Phillies finished six games ahead of Mets and Braves
So it’s a rare treat to see the Mets and Phillies battling for the NL East lead in as New York faces the San Francisco Giants on “Sunday Night Baseball” this week. This season has also been a bit of bumpy ride for both teams, so there is pressure on both front offices to make trade deadline additions in hopes of winning the World Series that has eluded both franchises in recent years despite high payrolls and star-laden rosters. Let’s dig into what both teams need to do before Thursday.
The perfect trade deadline for the Mets
1. Bullpen help
The Mets already acquired hard-throwing lefty Gregory Soto from the Orioles, but David Stearns will likely look for another reliever, given that the Mets’ bullpen has struggled since the beginning of June with a 5.02 ERA. In my grade of the trade, I pointed out the importance for the Mets to add left-handed relief. Think of potential playoff opponents and all the key left-handed batters: Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper on the Phillies; Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and Max Muncy on the Dodgers; Kyle Tucker, Michael Busch and Pete Crow-Armstrong on the Cubs.
Soto has held lefties to a .138 average this season, and it does help that the Mets have two lefty starters in David Peterson and Sean Manaea. They also just activated Brooks Raley after he had been out since early 2024. If he is back to his 2022-23 form, when he had a 2.74 ERA and held lefties to a .209 average, maybe the Mets will feel good enough about their southpaw relief.
They could still use another dependable righty reliever. Mets starters were hot early on, but they weren’t going deep into games, and outside of Peterson, the lack of longer outings is a big reason the bullpen ERA has skyrocketed. Carlos Mendoza has overworked his setup guys, including Huascar Brazoban and Reed Garrett. Brazoban has never been much of a strike thrower anyway, and Garrett similarly faded in the second half last season. Adding a high-leverage righty to set up Edwin Diaz makes sense. Candidates there include David Bednar of the Pirates, Ryan Helsley of the Cardinals, Griffin Jax or Jhoan Duran of the Twins, or maybe a longer shot such as Emmanuel Clase or Cade Smith of the Guardians.
2. Think big, as in Eugenio Suarez
Mark Vientos was a huge key to last season’s playoff appearance and trip to the NLCS, hitting .266/.322/.516 with 27 home runs after beginning the season in Triple-A. He hasn’t been able to replicate that performance, though, hitting .224/.279/.354. That has led to a revolving door at third base, with Vientos, Brett Baty and Ronny Mauricio starting games there in July. Overall, Mets third basemen ranked 24th in the majors in OPS entering Friday.
Lack of production at third is one reason the Mets’ offense has been mediocre rather than very good — they’re averaging 4.38 runs per game, just below the NL average of 4.43. They could use another premium bat, given the lack of production they’ve received from center field and catcher (not to mention Francisco Lindor‘s slump since the middle of June). Maybe Francisco Alvarez‘s short stint back in Triple-A will get his bat going now that he’s back in the majors, but going after Suarez to hit behind Juan Soto and Pete Alonso would lengthen the lineup.
3. Reacquire Harrison Bader to play CF
Tyrone Taylor is a plus defender in center and has made several incredible catches, but he’s hitting .209/.264/.306 for a lowly OPS+ of 65. Old friend Bader is having a nice season with the Twins, hitting .251/.330/.435. Maybe that’s a little over his head, given that he had a .657 OPS with the Mets last season, but he would still be an offensive upgrade over Taylor without losing anything on defense — and he wouldn’t cost a top-tier prospect. The Mets could still mix in Jeff McNeil against the really tough righties, but adding Suarez and Bader would give this lineup more of a championship feel.
The perfect deadline for the Phillies
1. Acquire Jhoan Duran
Like the Mets, the Phillies already made a move here, signing free agent David Robertson, who had a 3.00 ERA and 99 strikeouts in 72 innings last season with the Rangers. On paper, he should help, but he’s also 40 and will need a few games in the minors to get ready. Even with Robertson, the Phillies could use some more help here. They’ll eventually get Jose Alvarado back from his 60-game PED suspension, but Alvarado is ineligible for the postseason. At least the Mets have an elite closer in Edwin Diaz. Jordan Romano leads the Phillies with eight saves and has a 6.69 ERA. Matt Strahm is solid, but more useful as a lefty setup guy than a closer (think of all those left-handed batters we listed for the Mets, then sub out Juan Soto and Brandon Nimmo for Harper and Schwarber).
And the Phillies’ bullpen has consistently come up short in big games. Think back to last year’s NLDS, when Jeff Hoffman lost twice to the Mets. Or 2023, when Craig Kimbrel lost two games in the NLCS against the Diamondbacks. Or the 2022 World Series, when Yordan Alvarez hit the huge home run off Alvarado in the clinching Game 6.
So, yes, a shutdown closer is a must. Maybe that’s Bednar, maybe Clase if he’s available (although he struggled in last year’s postseason), maybe Helsley. But the guy Dave Dombrowski should go all-in to get: Duran. The window for the Phillies is slowly closing as the core players get older. Duran is under control through 2027, so he’s a fit for now and the immediate future. The trade cost might be painful, but with his 100 mph fastball and splitter, he has the elite stuff you need in October.
2. Add Ryan O’Hearn
The Phillies have received below-average production from both left field (mostly Max Kepler) and center field (Brandon Marsh/Johan Rojas platoon). The center-field market is pretty thin except for Bader or maybe a gamble on Luis Robert Jr. I’d pass on Robert, stick with the Marsh/Rojas platoon and upgrade left field with O’Hearn, who is hitting .281/.375/.452 for the Orioles. He isn’t the perfect fit since, like Kepler, he hits left-handed and struggles against lefties, but he’s a patient hitter with a much better OBP, and he’s passable in the outfield.
3. Acquire Willi Castro
Here’s the bottom line: The Phillies have to admit that some of their long-term position players aren’t getting the job done — such as second baseman Bryson Stott, who has a 77 OPS+. Third baseman Alec Bohm has been better but also has a below-average OPS.
That makes Castro a nice fit. He’s not a star, but he’s an above-average hitter, a switch-hitter who plays all over the field for the Twins, having started games at five different positions. He could play second or third or start in left field against a lefty. Philadelphia could even start him in center instead of Rojas, although that would be a defensive hit. Bottom line: Castro would give the Phillies a lot more versatility — or a significant offensive upgrade over Stott if they start him every day at second.
Note as well: Stott has hit .188 in 33 career postseason games. Bohm has hit .214 with two home runs in 34 postseason games. The Phillies need a different offensive look for October.
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