Phillies upset Cardinals to achieve first NLDS since 2011

ST. LOUIS — The Philadelphia Phillies accomplished a sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals of their NL Wild Card Sequence on Saturday with a 2-0 victory.

Philadelphia’s stars confirmed up in Sport 2, with Aaron Nola pitching 6 2/3 shutout innings, Bryce Harper hitting a solo dwelling run within the second and Kyle Schwarber offering an insurance coverage run with a sacrifice fly within the fifth.

The win vaults Philadelphia into the NL Division Sequence for the primary time since 2011 and ends the legendary careers of Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina.

Molina gave St. Louis an opportunity along with his last at-bat within the ninth inning, singling off Zach Eflin with two outs. However Tommy Edman fouled out to 3rd to finish the sport.

The victory additionally avenges the Phillies’ loss to the Cardinals within the decisive recreation of that 2011 NLDS, highlighted by an epic pitchers’ duel between Chris Carpenter and Roy Halladay.

Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak, talking earlier than the beginning of this sequence, referred to as {that a} “fork within the street.” The Cardinals went on to win that 12 months’s World Sequence, main as much as Tony La Russa saying his retirement and Albert Pujols leaving to hitch the Los Angeles Angels. The Phillies, in the meantime, navigated a 10-year postseason drought. Their dynamic core — of Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard, amongst others — aged out, triggering a rebuild that did not bear fruit as shortly because the fan base hoped.

Joe Girardi changed Gabe Kapler because the supervisor for the beginning of the 2020 season and Dave Dombrowski took over as the top of baseball operations a 12 months later, however the Phillies continued to fade down the stretch and blow alternatives on the playoffs. The stakes have been additional ratcheted up heading into 2022, when the Phillies splurged a mixed $179 million on Nick Castellanos and Schwarber, placing them on monitor to exceed baseball’s luxury-tax threshold.

However they started the season with a 22-29 report, already 12 1/2 video games again within the NL East, prompting Dombrowski to exchange Girardi with bench coach Rob Thomson. Beneath Thomson’s calm demeanor, the Phillies instantly took off, profitable 14 of their subsequent 16 video games. By the top of August, they have been 15 video games above .500 and in agency place within the NL Wild Card standings. They misplaced 10 of their final 14 in September, placing them vulnerable to shedding a spot to the Milwaukee Brewers, however they received three of their first 4 in October to lastly clinch.

The Phillies overcame a managerial change; main struggles from Castellanos, a chronic absence from the reigning NL MVP, Harper, who missed about two months due to a thumb damage and was relegated to designated hitter for many of the 12 months due to a hard elbow; and the lack of their ace, Zack Wheeler, for many of September. However Schwarber led the league in dwelling runs; J.T. Realmuto continued to carry out like the sport’s finest catcher; Wheeler and Aaron Nola as soon as once more supplied them with a dynamic pairing on the prime of their rotation; and Jose Alvarado and Zach Eflin emerged as a robust back-end duo.

“It was loads of challenges thrown at us over the course of the 12 months, the place I do not know that I’ve ever been a part of a group or one thing like that that has gone that some ways towards us,” Schwarber mentioned earlier than the beginning of the playoffs. “I believe the most important factor that you would be able to be happy with is you see how this complete group got here collectively nearer, as a result of that was the one means that we have been gonna have the ability to hold us within the hunt.”

In Friday’s Sport 1, the Phillies obtained a robust efficiency from Wheeler and improbably strung collectively six ninth-inning runs — on zero extra-base hits — to stage an exhilarating come-from-behind victory, gorgeous a sold-out Busch Stadium crowd. In Sport 2, Nola shut down St. Louis’ offense.

The Cardinals’ elimination triggers the retirements of Pujols and Yadier Molina, expensive pals who turned icons on this metropolis. Pujols, who returned to the Cardinals for his age-42 seasons, instantly re-emerged as one among baseball’s most feared sluggers within the second half, placing collectively a .323/.388/.715 slash line and reaching the distinguished 700-home-run milestone. Throughout that stretch, Molina and Adam Wainwright, who has but to announce his retirement, set the report for many begins as batterymates with 325.

The Cardinals, below first-year supervisor Oliver Marmol, reached the playoffs by profitable their fifth NL Central title in 10 years. They have been bolstered largely by Pujols’ second half, together with MVP-caliber seasons by Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado, a robust protection, a dominant nearer in Ryan Helsley and a pitch-to-contact beginning rotation that was well-suited for a spacious Busch Stadium. Mozeliak referred to as 2022 “a magical 12 months for the St. Louis Cardinals.” However it ended abruptly below Main League Baseball’s new, expanded postseason format — in 18 innings.