4 Phillies Who Cost Their Team the NLCS

3. Nick Castellanos

Nick Castellanos was poised to be the hero of the Phillies’ 2023 postseason, and honestly had started himself on a run that could have made him an all-time postseason great.

After hammering four home runs in his final two games against the Atlanta Braves, Castellanos was the reddest piece of the Phillies’ red-hot offense.

And he looked ready to keep that momentum rolling in Game 1, launching another home run. He added a fine performance (2 walks, 1 RBI) in Game 2 as the Phillies took a commanding series lead. Then the wheels fell off.

Castellanos went 0-fer over the final five games of the series. In 19 plate appearances he recorded no hits, 1 walk and 9 strikeouts with no RBI.

He kept up that aggression that had worked so well earlier in the playoffs, but the Diamondbacks pitchers made him pay for it., and he looked like a totally different player in the latter part of the series. 

Does some of the blame for the offensive struggles land on Thomson? Of course. Do you have to credit the Arizona pitching staff for shutting down some of the best offensive players in baseball? I won't make you if you're still too hurt from the loss, but they deserve that.

But those things don't change the fact that Castellanos went from a centerpiece of the lineup to suddenly being a total liability every time he was at the dish seemingly overnight. And when we're talking about reasons the 2-0 lead was blown, it's hard to not point at a guy who played so terribly in those final five games.I