#philadelphia-phillies

#philadelphia-phillies

De La Cruz showed promise early in his career with Miami, hitting .269/.318/.430 with 18 homers, 27 doubles and a pair of triples in his first 574 plate appearances from 2021-22. He popped 19 homers in 2023, but poor glovework and an OBP barely north of .300 made him a roughly replacement-level player. De La Cruz had a better start in '24, connecting on 18 long balls through his first 454 turns at the plate.

Peguero was once a touted young infielder whom the Pirates acquired from the D-backs in exchange for Starling Marte. He's a former top-100 prospect who was once viewed as a possible shortstop of the future in Pittsburgh. Peguero's bat has never come around, however. He's seen action in four big league seasons but has mustered only a .227/.278/.368 slash line in 315 turns at the plate.

As my friend Dana and I stood next to the giant balloon arch and let someone take our photo, people around us were feeling optimistic about "winning it all" and "getting a ring." Dana and I talked about how happy we were to be back, how good it felt to return to the ballpark we spend all summer in each summer, how fresh the grass smelled, and how grateful we were that the long offseason was over.

ANDERSON: It's 0 and 1. Kerkering trying to send this one to the 12th. No balls and a strike. Pages breaks his bat, Kerkering gotta find it. Throws to the plate! Oh my goodness! He throws it away! And the Dodgers have won! The Dodgers win and they are moving on to the NLCS in a most improbable finish! Pandemonium in Dodger Stadium! And your heart breaks for Orion Kerkering. The Dodgers ecstatic. This game ends in the cruelest way for the Phillies.

The Phillies did not send their best lineup out there on Wednesday night. They needed just one win or one Dodgers loss to wrap up a playoff bye, and there were five games left in the season. It was going to happen; they did not really seem to be in a rush. Similarly, the top seed in the NL is almost certainly out of reach.

LOS ANGELES -- Kyle Schwarber, Weston Wilson and Bryce Harper homered, and the Philadelphia Phillies clinched their second straight NL East title with a wild 6-5 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday night. It was the earliest division clinch in franchise history, two days sooner than the 2011 club that clinched on Sept. 17. The Phillies got it done in Game 151, second-fastest in club history behind the 2011 Phillies who did it in Game 150.

The Brewers stay in the top spot after splitting a four-game series with the Arizona Diamondbacks and taking two of three from the Toronto Blue Jays. They are still 6.5 games ahead of the Chicago Cubs and cruising toward a playoff berth. Jackson Chourio returned from the injured list to excellent results, with six hits in two games. He will be key to Milwaukee breaking its playoff slump, with no series wins since 2018.

It was back in 2021 that actor Kevin Costner famously emerged from the cornstalks at a specially constructed diamond at the "Field of Dreams" movie site and led the Chicago White Sox and New York Yankees into the stadium for what turned out to be one of Major League Baseball's most memorable events. A year later, the Cincinnati Reds and Chicago Cubs visited Dyersville for another MLB matchup near the iconic field where the 1989 movie was filmed.