The Los Angeles Dodgers are headed back to the National League Championship Series after dispatching the Philadelphia Phillies in a dramatic and, at times, bizarre division series that left fans on both sides reeling. Thursday night at Dodger Stadium, the Dodgers clinched their spot with a nail-biting 2-1 victory in 11 innings, a game that will be remembered for years thanks to a walk-off error that ended Philadelphia’s season in heartbreaking fashion.
It’s not every day you see a playoff series end on a defensive miscue, but that’s exactly what happened when Phillies reliever Orion Kerkering, with the bases loaded and two outs, bobbled a comebacker and then sailed his throw past home plate. The error allowed pinch-runner Hyeseong Kim to cross the plate with the winning run, sending the Dodgers’ dugout into a frenzy and the Phillies’ players into stunned silence. According to CrunchSports, this marked just the second time in MLB postseason history that a series ended on a walk-off error, the last being in 2016.
“Once the pressure got to me, I just thought there’s a faster throw to J.T., little quicker throw than trying to cross-body it to Bryce,” Kerkering said after the game, referencing catcher J.T. Realmuto and first baseman Bryce Harper. “Just a horseshit throw.” The raw honesty captured the mood in the Phillies’ clubhouse, where the pain of a season-ending mistake was palpable.
The Dodgers, meanwhile, are riding high. This is their eighth NLCS appearance in the last 13 years and their seventh in the last decade—a testament to the organization’s consistency and resilience. Yet, as thrilling as this win was, the series also exposed some cracks in the Dodgers’ armor, most notably the struggles of superstar Shohei Ohtani at the plate.
Ohtani, who arrived in Los Angeles with sky-high expectations, endured a division series he’d likely rather forget. Over four games against Philadelphia, Ohtani managed just one hit in 18 at-bats, good for a paltry .056 average, with one RBI, two walks, and nine strikeouts. His only hit—a clutch RBI single in the seventh inning of Game 2—helped seal that game, but overall, he disrupted the offensive rhythm of the lineup. Including the earlier wild-card round against Cincinnati, Ohtani’s postseason numbers now sit at .148 (4-for-27) with two home runs, five RBIs, three walks, and a .604 OPS.
Despite Ohtani’s struggles, the Dodgers managed to advance with relative ease. The team hit just .199 over the four games, scoring a total of 13 runs, but the pitching staff stepped up in a big way. In the games they won, Los Angeles pitchers held the Phillies to three runs or fewer, including a quality start from Ohtani himself in Game 1, where he allowed three runs over six innings. Tyler Glasnow, making his first playoff start as a Dodger, was electric in the decisive Game 4, tossing six scoreless innings and matching Philadelphia’s Cristopher Sánchez pitch-for-pitch.
The bullpen was equally impressive. Japanese sensation Roki Sasaki delivered what manager Dave Roberts called “one of the great all-time appearances out of the pen,” striking out nine consecutive batters over three perfect innings to keep the game tied and force extras. That dominance set the stage for the wild finish that ultimately sent the Dodgers through and left the Phillies devastated.
The Phillies’ elimination was particularly tough to swallow given their 95-win regular season and high hopes of bringing a championship back to Philadelphia for the first time since 2008. To make matters worse, the loss capped a miserable day for Philadelphia sports fans, as the city’s Eagles and Flyers also lost, marking just the second time in over four decades that all three major teams dropped games on the same day.
“This really fucking sucks right now. But hopefully keep pushing, get over this hump,” said Kerkering, with his teammates and manager Rob Thomson quick to rally around the young reliever. “Just keep his head up,” Thomson told reporters. “We win as a team and we lose as a team.”
For the Dodgers, the mood was one of relief and cautious optimism. Despite the win, players and coaches alike acknowledged that there’s another gear for this team to reach—especially if Ohtani can break out of his slump. “I definitely think we can get better. Look at Ohtani,” said starting catcher Will Smith. “I didn’t do much in this series, but in the next series he could hit about five home runs. That’s Ohtani.” Utility man Enrique Hernández echoed the sentiment: “I think this series was won because the pitchers threw well. We can do better. We didn’t make all the plays we could defensively, and our hitting wasn’t right. We beat a really strong team, but we can get better.”
Manager Dave Roberts was candid in his assessment of Ohtani’s struggles, pointing to issues with swing selection. “Ohtani isn’t creating opportunities to hit mistakes. He has a problem in selecting his swings,” Roberts said, noting that Ohtani had swung at the first pitch in 12 of his 30 postseason plate appearances so far, well above his regular-season rate of 33.9%.
MLB.com emphasized that for the Dodgers to repeat as World Series champions, Ohtani’s revival is critical. The team’s recent form suggests they’re peaking at the right time. Over the last five weeks, Los Angeles posted a 20-6 record, a .769 winning percentage that would project to 125 wins over a full season. They swept Cincinnati in the wild-card round and have now ousted a formidable Phillies squad.
One of the unsung heroes of the Dodgers’ playoff run has been Enrique “Kiké” Hernández, whose versatility and experience have proven invaluable. Hernández, who rejoined the Dodgers at the 2023 trade deadline after a stint with the Boston Red Sox, has become something of a good-luck charm. He played a key role in the Dodgers’ 2020 and 2024 World Series wins and is now aiming for another ring in 2025. Hernández recently recalled a pivotal call from Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, who assured him of a real role on the team—a moment Hernández credits with changing the trajectory of his career.
As the Dodgers await the winner of the Brewers-Cubs series, they know the road ahead won’t be easy. No team has won back-to-back World Series titles in 25 years, but with their pitching firing on all cylinders and the promise of a resurgent Ohtani, Los Angeles has every reason to believe they can make history.
“It feels great, but we know we have a lot of baseball to be played,” Hernández told reporters after the win. “Our goal is to win the World Series. The goal is not to win the NLDS.” For now, the Dodgers can savor a wild ride to the NLCS—one that’s left their fans dreaming of another October celebration.
