Andrew Noel, Staff

Red October is in full swing, and up to this point, it has not disappointed. The Phillies faced off in the wildcard round against the Miami Marlins. Behind strong outings from Zach Wheeler and Aaron Nola, the Phils easily disposed of them and moved on to face the Atlanta Braves in the best of five National League Division Series. 

At the time of writing, the series is tied at one game a piece, and up to this point, it has been everything a fan could hope for in a playoff series: tense, and nerve wracking. The Phillies won game one behind a great team pitching performance led by Ranger Suarez, and some outstanding defense, especially from shortstop Trea Turner. A Bryson Stott fourth inning single, followed by a Bryce Harper sixth inning home run propelled the Phillies to 3-0 victory and a 1-0 series lead. 

Game two was a heartbreaker. Ace Zach Wheeler put on one of the most dominant pitching performances you will ever see, going seven strong innings. A first inning Alec Bohm single put the Fightins up 1-0. This was followed by a J.T. Realmuto third inning two run homer to put the Phillies ahead 3-0. Behind your ace, this lead should be enough to win most games, but unfortunately, it was not meant to be, as a tiring Wheeler gave up a two run home run to Braves catcher Travis d’Arnaud in the bottom of the seventh inning, to cut the Phillies lead to just one run. Unfortunately, the Phillies bullpen could not hold onto the lead, and an eighth inning Austin Riley two-run home run was enough for the Braves to shock the Phillies and send the series back to Philadelphia tied at a game apiece. 

This series has essentially become a best of three, with games three and four to take place at Citizens Bank Park on Wednesday Oct. 11 and Thursday the Oct. 12. A fifth and decisive game, if necessary, will be in Atlanta on Saturday Oct.14.  

Writer’s note: If you are not already watching this series, then you are missing out. Put simply, these teams hate each other, combined this with the best atmosphere in baseball, Wednesday’s and Thursday’s games will be unlike anything anyone has, or ever will experience. This series is on a knife edge, and it is all but guaranteed that there will be a moment, good or bad, that goes down in the history of Philadelphia sports Because sports are such a big part of this city’s identity, it is not an overstatement to think what happens between now and Saturday will go down in history as one of Philadelphia’s defining moments. No one knows what is going to happen, but it is going to be very fun finding out.