It was a really tough schedule,” Thomson said. “We just got off to a little bit of a slow start and kind of spiraled. Thomson, who had been a career coach for the Yankees and Phillies, transformed a team well out of contention at 23-29 when they fired Joe Girardi on June 3. Philadelphia finished third in the NL East at 87-75, a full 14 games behind the 101-win Braves this season, but is playing like a contender under manager Rob Thomson. It didn’t happen for us this year,” he said. Until you win the division, you don’t have a chance to do anything special because you never know what’s going to happen, you don’t know what team’s going to get hot, what things have to go right for you to go deep into the postseason,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said.

“Like I told them, the goal when we leave spring training is to win the division. The Padres stunned the Dodgers, taking their NLDS matchup in four games.Ītlanta's loss meant Major League Baseball hasn't had a repeat champ since the New York Yankees won three straight from 1998-2000. The Phillies will face the Padres in an all-wild card NLCS beginning Tuesday in San Diego. Realmuto became the first catcher to hit an inside-the-parker in postseason history and Harper punctuated the romp with a clinching home run that helped the Phillies take the NL Division Series 3-1 against the World Series champion Braves. Realmuto lined an inside-the-park home run that sent Philadelphia bolting headfirst into the NL Championship Series for the first time since 2010 with an 8-3 win over the Atlanta Braves in Game 4 Saturday. That's right, the next stop for the Fightins is a trip West to the NLCS, as a team that looked completely lost in May suddenly looks every bit like a World Series contender in October.īrandon Marsh hit a three-run homer and J.T. Then it was time for the Phillies to sing: “I’m going going, back back, to Cali Cali!” they shouted in unison to the Notorious B.I.G.

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