PHILADELPHIA — This is over.
Or, from the perspective of the Dodgers, this is just starting.
Because the Dodgers are returning to the World Series.
Technically, they still have to close out their National League Division Series against the Philadelphia Phillies. They still have to win the NL Championship Series.
But they will.
They will because they won’t blow the two-games-to-none lead they have after their 4-3 victory over the Phillies on Monday in Game 2 of their best-of-five series.
They will because the Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago Cubs don’t have the firepower necessary to take down these Dodgers in the next round.
The Phillies were to the Dodgers this year what the San Diego Padres were last year. They were their greatest obstacle. The road back to the World Series is almost cleared.
The Dodgers can officially eliminate the Phillies on Wednesday, and they should.
Game 3 will be played at Dodger Stadium.
Their best pitcher, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, will be on the mound.
Call in a priest — or a padre. The time has come to read the Phillies their last rites.
The Dodgers didn’t come close to winning 120 games, and they were underwhelming in the regular season, which explains why they were unable to secure either of the first-round byes that were claimed by the Phillies and Brewers. They entered the postseason with an alarmingly untrustworthy bullpen, and that bullpen nearly blew a four-run lead in Game 2.
But in stealing two wins at Citizens Bank Park, the Dodgers demonstrated they still have that championship something that no other team in baseball has.
That something emerged on Monday night in the six scoreless innings pitched by Blake Snell, the run-scoring slide by Teoscar Hernández on a slow roller by Kike Hernández, the two-run single by Will Smith that broke open the game, the insurance run driven in by Shohei Ohtani. That something was reflected in the two innings contributed by converted starter Emmet Sheehan, and game-saving defensive plays made by Miguel Rojas, Max Muncy and Mookie Betts.
The Phillies don’t have that something, and the championship window that was opened by the likes of Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber might now be closed. They certainly recognized this, which is why Phillies manager Rob Thomson made no effort to downplay the importance of Game 2.
If anything, Thomson emphasized how critical the game was by saying before the game that Ranger Suárez and Aaron Nola could pitch in relief.
Suárez and Nola were two candidates to start Game 3.
“This is a big game tonight,” Thomson said. “We talked all year long about winning series and how the first game is important. Well, the second game is pretty important when you get to a five-game series or seven-game series because it’s a swing game.”
Thomson was prepared to deploy Suárez in a high-leverage situation. He was ready to call on Nola if the game went into extra innings.
“And we’ll figure out Game 3,” Thomson said.
The home fans comprehended the stakes. Citizens Bank Park was a madhouse in Game 1, but the crowd for Game 2 was comparatively toned down.
The nervous tension in the stadium quickly morphed into unbridled frustration, as the Phillies’ lineup was unable to do anything against Snell.
There were boos when batting champion Trea Turner struck out in the third inning. There were boos when Brandon Marsh was caught stealing on a pickoff by Snell to end the inning. There were more boos when Alec Bohm struck out for the final out of the fourth.
The first hit Snell gave up was with two outs in the fifth inning, a flare single to center field by Edmundo Sosa. The very next batter, Marsh, grounded out. More boos.
How nervous were Phillies fans? When a warning on the public-address system about streaking was followed by a bare-chested Philly Phanatic running across the outfield before the sixth inning, they offered no reaction. Baseball’s most iconic mascot was completely ignored.
Up to this point, the Dodgers were equally unproductive against the Phillies starter Jesús Luzardo. Betts singled and Teoscar Hernández walked in successive at-bats in the first inning, only for Luzardo to retire the next 17 batters in a row.
The Phillies threatened Snell for the first time in the sixth inning when Turner and Kyle Schwarber drew successive one-out walks. Up next: Harper, a two-time NL most valuable player.
In almost any other postseason, this is where manager Dave Roberts would have instructed one of his coaches to phone the bullpen. But Roberts wasn’t about to replace Snell, not at this stage of the game, not with the combustibility of his relievers.
Snell struck out Harper and made Bohm ground into a forceout. The game remained scoreless.
Teoscar Hernández singled and Freddie Freeman doubled to start the seventh inning, forcing Thomson into the position Roberts was in the previous inning. Thomson made a mistake but not because he removed Luzardo. His error was in the pitcher he chose to replace him. With closer Jhoan Duran available, Thomson went with Orion Kerkering.
With runners on second and third, Tommy Edman was struck out by Kerkering for the first out. But Kike Hernández hit a slow roller to short and Teoscar Henández beat Turner’s throw home for the first run of the game. Muncy walked to load the bases, setting up a two-run single by Smith. Ohtani, who was hitless in his previous seven at-bats of this series, singled to right field to drive in a valuable insurance run.
The Dodgers were on their way.
