Despite World Series loss, Thomson says ‘this is sustainable, this type of winning’: Postgame reaction and instant analysis

HOUSTON — A few minutes after the final out was recorded on Saturday night, causing streamers to fall and fireworks to explode and the Astros to storm the field, Rob Thomson addressed his team. ... Thomson wanted to leave his players with a message to think about during the offseason. He kept it short.

“[He said], ‘This is the standard,’” said Brandon Marsh. “This is the standard now. It’s always been the standard, but now that we’ve tasted it, and know what it’s like to be on the wrong side of it, we’ll be shooting for it next year.”

Marsh is right; since spring training, months before he even donned a Phillies uniform, making it to the Fall Classic was the goal. But few outside of their clubhouse believed they would actually get there. And when they did, the Phillies were viewed as the vast underdogs; the 87-win David to the Astros’ 106-win Goliath.

Getting two wins away from a World Series title, only to see it slip away stings. But the Phillies believe that they proved something with this run — not to themselves, but to the rest of the world, who doubted them.

» READ MORE: Even in defeat, the Phillies proved something with their World Series run

— Alex Coffey

HOUSTON — Astros manager Dusty Baker was counting the outs.

As the number of outs between the Astros and a World Series championship dwindled, he began to reflect on people who influenced him, from his parents to Hank Aaron, Don Baylor, and others. Now, he’s won the World Series for the first time as a manager after 25 seasons.

“I tried not to dwell on it, but tried to have faith and perseverance and knowing that with the right team and the right personnel and right everything that this is going to happen,” Baker said after his team won Game 6. “Had this happened years ago, I might not even be here. So maybe it wasn’t supposed to happen so that I could hopefully influence a few young men’s lives and their families and a number of people in the country through showing what perseverance and character can do for you in the long run.”

Looking forward, Baker reflected on his place as an African American manager — one of just two active African American managers in MLB — who managed in a World Series without African American players and said a lot of progress needs to be made to increase the number of African American players and coaches.

“I mean, it didn’t take overnight to get in this situation, and it’s not going to take overnight to get out of this situation,” he said. “I mean, you see how many draft choices, top draft choices, were African American. They’re not going to rush all the kids up here at the same time if they’re not ready. But you have to have them in the pipeline in order to have some. And you got to also have some African American coaches and managers in the pipeline to have more. … I hope I’m around long enough to see my son and some other dudes in the big leagues here in the near future.”

» READ MORE: Baseball leaders worried about the decline in the number of African Americans in the majors | Claire Smith

— Maria McIlwain

The general managers’ meetings open Tuesday in Las Vegas. Contract options for 2023 must be picked up or declined before next weekend.

Hey, life moves pretty fast when you play baseball into November.

The Phillies won’t get a deferral of their offseason business just because they were among the last two teams left playing. The process of defending the National League pennant will begin as soon as they leave the field.

And with one of their very first decisions, they will state clearly whether they intend to cannonball into another star-studded shortstop market.

Because if the Phillies exercise their $17 million option for second baseman Jean Segura, it means they will commit to Bryson Stott at shortstop, where he started 51 of the final 60 regular-season games and 13 of 19 postseason games. But if they turn Segura loose, with the parting gift of his $1 million buyout, they could shift Stott to second base and make an aggressive play for free-agent shortstops Trea Turner and Dansby Swanson. Or Carlos Correa and Xander Bogaerts, who are expected to opt out of their contracts and enter the market.

Imagine Turner, one of Bryce Harper’s favorite players, atop the Phillies’ order, or batting second between Kyle Schwarber and Harper. Think of Swanson playing his Gold Glove defense for the Phillies instead of against them with the rival Atlanta Braves. Bogaerts negotiated his last contract with the Red Sox when Dave Dombrowski was running Boston’s baseball operations. Could they reunite now?

All of those options would be in play if the Phillies move on from Segura. Otherwise, if they bring back Segura, the primary offseason focus may shift to another area, such as another high-end starting pitcher to add to Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola.

» READ MORE: Will the Phillies jump into the star-studded shortstop market?

— Scott Lauber

HOUSTON — It will probably take Phillies manager Rob Thomson a couple weeks to process this whirlwind season. From a bench coach who’d never managed to suddenly ascending to the role — first on an interim basis before earning a contract extension — and ultimately guiding the team back to the postseason and into the World Series, it’s been an improbable run to say the least.

But that improbable run that ended Saturday night with a 4-1 loss to the Houston Astros in Game 6 of the Series. And Thomson and his players have been through a lot.

“I told them after the game, I said, ‘You guys have nothing to be ashamed of. You don’t need to hang your head for anybody,’” Thomson said. “Because they came to the ballpark every day and worked hard and played hard and played as a team and had a lot of fun and grinded through a lot of obstacles. And I’m just so proud of all of them, I really am.”

And many of those players — whether it’s the “Day Care” group of Bryson Stott, Alec Bohm, and Matt Vierling, or stars with big contracts like Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, J.T. Realmuto, and Nick Castellanos — will be back next year.

“This is sustainable, this type of winning atmosphere and winning team because of that fact,” Thomson said. “This was a good taste to get these guys here in this moment. All these young players, we’ve got a good group of veteran guys, and our system is starting to get loaded up with good arms at the upper end of the minor league system. I think this run has the potential to be very sustainable.”

— Maria McIlwain

We’ll remember 2022 as the year the Phillies lost the World Series, because that’s the way history works. We tell it with ourselves at the center. But the victors deserved to write this one. The Astros won it. They were simply better.

Yordan Alvarez’s three-run home run in the sixth inning of a do-or-die Game 6 was the decisive blow. It will not be the defining one. Not for the Phillies. It isn’t often that the city of Philadelphia looks back fondly on second-place finishers. This team? They will be an exception.

That came as little consolation in the immediate aftermath. As the Astros leapt over the dugout railing and swarmed the mound, the Phillies looked on from their side of the field, as if unsure of what to do.

Finality is a difficult thing to grasp, but whenever the sting fades, they’ll be left with an appreciation of all that they accomplished. They’ll remember all of those moments that reestablished baseball as an integral part of this city: That impossible comeback in St. Louis, that magical home opener in the NLDS, that eighth-inning home run that clinched the Phillies their first World Series berth in 13 years. The sliding catches by Nick Castellanos in right field, the impeccable defense by Alec Bohm at third base, the inside-the-park home run by J.T. Realmuto — those are the memories that will burn brightest.

» READ MORE: The 2022 Phillies are gone, but will not soon be forgotten

— David Murphy

Never before has a city lost titles on the same day.

Never did anyone believe that Philadelphia, with minimal titles in its tormented history, would be the team to do so. Because you have to get near the summit to reach the peak, and Philly doesn’t do that much.

Before the season the Union were projected to finish second in their conference. They finished first, tied with Western Conference leader LAFC for the league lead, with 67 total points.

The Phillies were projected by fangraphs.com to gave an 8.4% chance to win the pennant, sixth best in the National League.

They each earned their shot by dethroning a king and bullyboy. The Union reached the final by beating New York City FC, the reigning MLS champions, in the semis. The Phillies beat defending World Series champion Atlanta in the Division Series. ...

It’s astonishing we’re even having this conversation.

» READ MORE: Phillies and Union make history, ending storybook season on the same day during a wild Philadelphia fall

— Marcus Hayes

HOUSTON — Zack Wheeler had more to give.

Let that sink in. Let it wash over you. Who knows what would have happened if the Phillies allowed their best pitcher to face Houston Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez in the sixth inning Saturday night? Maybe the result winds up being the same. Maybe it doesn’t.

But this much we do know: Wheeler’s 70th pitch in the sixth game of the 118th World Series was a 96 mph sinker. And when Jeremy Peña grounded a single up the middle to put runners on the corners and threaten the Phillies’ one-run lead, the only reason to replace Wheeler was that reliever José Alvarado throws with his left hand and Alvarez bats from the left side of the plate.

It was also the move that Rob Thomson made all throughout this magical postseason. Never mind, then, that Wheeler was pitching the game of his life in precisely the situation that called for it and against all evidence to the contrary that he had strength left in his right arm to do it. When Thomson walked to the mound, he was taking the ball from Wheeler and giving it to Alvarado.

All good things must end, including a manager’s five-month hot streak.

» READ MORE: Astros end Phillies’ wild run to the World Series with 4-1 win in Game 6

— Scott Lauber

The Phillies took a 1-0 lead in the sixth, but the Astros answered with four runs of their own in the bottom half of the sixth inning, including a three-run homer from Yordan Alvarez, and then rode their bullpen to a 4-1 Game 6 win to clinch the World Series victory.

Stay here for more reaction and analysis throughout the night.

— Matt Mullin

Jose Alvarado had been replace by Seranthony Dominguez by this point, but it didn’t stop Christian Vazquez from putting the Astros up 4-1 with this two-out RBI single.

— Matt Mullin

Three men in Phillies jerseys stood, stoically, as Minute Maid Park erupted around them. The Phillies short- lived lead had been wiped out with Yordan Alvarez’s sixth-inning home run, giving the Astros a 3-1 lead and, seemingly, all the momentum.

They remained hopeful.

“There’s still time,” said Jonathan Szott, of Bucks County.

— Jason Nark

Phillies manager Rob Thomson pulled starter Zack Wheeler after runners reached first and third in the sixth inning with one out as the pitcher faced his first bout of trouble. Thomson went to Jose Alvarado and the left-hander promptly allowed a three-run homer to lefty Yordan Alvarez on the fourth pitch he threw.

That put the Astros ahead 3-1 in the bottom of the sixth.

— Matt Breen

In an elimination game and with a slim 1-0 lead, Rob Thomson isn’t taking any chances and has brought in José Alvarado, one of his high-leverage pitchers, in the sixth inning.

Zack Wheeler’s night is done after allowing a single to Jeremy Peña to put runners on the corners with one out. Wheeler allowed three hits, walked one, and struck out five on 70 pitches, 49 of which were strikes.

— Maria McIlwain

It’s strange to hear your team hit a home run in the opponent’s ballpark. When Kyle Schwarber whacked one in the top of the 6th inning, yells rang out. But in Houston, it wasn’t an eruption.

“One of those yells was mine, " said Jaime Degennaro, of Cherry Hill. “I’m losing my voice. "

Degennaro and his friend, Mark Maghirang, said they felt like they were behind enemy lines.

“Hopefully that run is enough,” Maghirang said.

— Jason Nark

The Astros blinked first.

Kyle Schwarber’s sixth postseason home run, a solo shot in the sixth inning, left his bat at 107.3 mph and gave the Phillies a 1-0 lead.

» READ MORE: Win or you’re done? Former Cub Kyle Schwarber knows about that: ‘It’s going to take everyone’

— Maria McIlwain

An extra day of rest has seemed to jolt Zack Wheeler’s fastball back to life as the pitcher is operating the way he did for most of the season instead of the one who struggled in Game 2.

Wheeler has allowed just two hits through five scoreless innings and his fastball has topped at 99.1 MPH. His velocity has stayed strong, his pitches have life and he’s generated eight swing-and-misses while striking out five. The Phillies elected to start Wheeler on six days rest in Game 6 instead of pushing him to start Game 5 on four days rest. He lasted just five innings in Game 2 and the Astros jumped his fastball, which topped out at just 96.9 MPH.

» READ MORE: Phillies turning to Zack Wheeler in must-win Game 6, but nobody knows what to expect from the ace

— Matt Breen

As the innings wore on with no score, Fran Thompson, a Kingsessing native, and Robert Bantivoglio, a Cherry Hill native, looked on from the upper reaches of Minute Maid Park, unaffected.

“We’ve got the moment. We’re controlling the game,” Thompson said

Bantivoglio noticed an ever-so-subtle change in the crowd.

“They’re getting quiet,” he said.

— Jason Nark

Joannie Councillor, a Pennsauken native who now lives in Florida, sat alone on a folding chair in the concourse, looking nervous in the bottom of the 2nd inning.

Turns out she was just waiting for her husband, in the bathroom.

“I think we look good so far,“ Councillor said. “We’re making contact.”

Councillor, like many fans, thought Edmundo Sosa’s fly ball to the warning track was going out.

“We need more like that,” she said.

— Jason Nark

Steven Macias, a Houston fan, could sense the Philly fans longing for harassment, so he tossed some good-natured but unprintable obscenities their way in the main concourse before the first pitch.

“They need it,” Macias said. “It’s like a hunger.”

Mike Ward, 41, of Northeast Philly, said the ribbing got him amped for Game 6.

“I was beginning to think it was soft around here,” he said.

— Jason Nark

Was he a genie? Someone who fell off a Mardi Gras float, or just some, strange sequined fan? No Astros fan could tell, so few harassed Jim O’Neill over his Jason Kielce Super Bowl costume at Game 6.

“They have no clue,” O’Neil, a Reading resident, said. “It’s great.”

O’Neil and fellow Philly fans flew in for the Eagles game and picked up standing room tickets to the World Series.

His buddy, Zack Waldman, of Oley Valley, said the Kelce suit belongs to him.

“It doesn’t fit,” he said. “I got too fat.”

— Jason Nark

One day, many years ago, James Blackmon decided to take up bowling again, so he went to a local bowiling alley in Oklahoma and heard strike after strike form another lane.

“I figured, she’s pretty good, maybe I’ll ask her lessons,” he recalled from section 413 of Minute Maid Park before Game 6.

That’s how he met and married Christina, a Philly girl who loved the Jersey Shore, the Birds, bowling, and her baseball team. The couple drove down to Houston from Oklahoma to watch the Eagles — and paid about $2200 to see the Phillies game too.

“I never stopping loving the sports teams, even after I moved,” Christina Blackmon, a Norristown native, said.

— Jason Nark

HOUSTON — Like his counterpart in the Phillies dugout, Astros manager Dusty Baker began his day as he always does — coffee and errands before heading to Minute Maid Park. He’s won three pennants and been manager of the year three times, but he’s never won a World Series as a manager. That all could change in a few hours’ time as his Astros have a 3-2 series lead over the Phillies heading into Game 6.

“My emotions are definitely there, and definitely there on both sides. I mean, we’re trying to close it out, and they’re trying to remain alive,” Baker said, “So, yeah, I mean, the emotions are running high today, but you got to try to remain as calm as you can. You can waste emotion early because we’ve got three or four hours before the game starts. I mean, you’ve only got so much emotion.”

Baker added that his emotions likely will reach their peak during the national anthem.

He also spoke about winning the World Series as an African American manager — and in a series that has no African American players on either team. He says he hasn’t thought about it much yet but has reflected on influential people in his life, like his father, who have gone before him.

“I don’t think about being an African American manager because I look in the mirror every day and I know what I am. You know what I’m saying?” he said. “And so I do know that there’s certain pressure from a lot of people that are pulling for me, especially people of color. And that part I do feel. I hear it every day. I see it when I’m walking down the street when I see a policeman, a bellman, or anybody of color, but especially of African American color. And so I feel that I’ve been chosen for this.”

» READ MORE: Astros’ Dusty Baker represents ‘so much for so many’ as he looks for his first World Series win as manager

— Maria McIlwain

HOUSTON — It’s not any old game, but Phillies manager Rob Thomson kept to his routine — getting to Minute Maid Park around 10:30 a.m. and all.

Thomson has been around the game for many years, so he’s seen how players react to pressure.

“Really it gets down to the fact that you just got to go out and play your own game and stay within yourself and just slow it down,” he said. “What happens, happens. But what tends to happen is people try to do too much because you’re back’s against the wall. You just got to go out and play.”

He said he didn’t want to “overthink” things going regarding his Game 6 lineup. Right-handed hitters Edmundo Sosa gets the start at shortstop and Matt Vierling is in center field over lefty-hitting Bryson Stott and Brandon Marsh, respectively, with lefty Framber Valdez on the mound. Vierling will bat eighth and Sosa ninth, with second baseman Jean Segura moving into the seven-hole from the No. 8 spot.

It’s also an all-hands-on-deck situation on the mound, with Thomson saying he’s “pretty sure” Ranger Suárez is available to pitch tonight, and that Aaron Nola, who started Game 5, even is a possibility.

“Yeah, you got to win tonight,” Thomson said. “You would like to stay away from one of them, anyway, but if we had to, we had to.”

— Maria McIlwain

HOUSTON — Throughout the season, the Phillies have made a point to “flush it” after an adverse situation.

That isn’t changing now.

After losing, 3-2, in Game 5 of the World Series to set up an elimination game Saturday in Houston, Phillies shortstop Bryson Stott said it wasn’t any harder to maintain that mentality.

“It’s kind of been the motto all season, just to flush it,” Stott said. “We’ve had losses throughout the year and bounced back in ways that we need to do so. I don’t think it’s going to be any different. Same routines, everyone’s still in the clubhouse having fun and doing stuff that we’ve done all year.”

Manager Rob Thomson echoed that light clubhouse scene.

“They were pretty loose,” Thomson said. “Music’s playing, they’re running around. They’re doing their crosswords. They’re signing all those baseballs in there and just relaxing. Curveball machine was going today, and we’ll go out and have a good BP and get some good work in.”

Stott also has had conversations with Kyle Schwarber — whose Cubs team won Games 6 and 7 on the road to win the World Series in 2016 — and David Robertson about their experiences on this stage.

“They’ve said it’s never easy; it’s never going to be easy,” Stott said. “That’s why we get seven games just to come out here and play our game and take it one game and one game at a time.”

— Maria McIlwain

It was around 4:20 p.m. in a crowded bar near Minute Maid Park and “Baby Got Back” was blaring on the sound system. Most do the televisions are tuned to college football, but one was showing the MLS Cup, and a Philadelphia Union goal to tie the game.

“Whoa!” Sean Schafer yelled.

Few heard him.

Schafer was in Houston for the annual " Schafer Eagles trip.” They went to the Eagles game Thursday and just decided to stick around.

“The first bar we went to didn’t have the Union game on,” he said. “Obviously we’re staying for the Phillies.”

— Jason Nark

Kevin Sica couldn’t be in two places at the same time, so on Thursday night he made the difficult decision to choose the Phillies — and sell his Eagles tickets in Houston. He was on a streak too, planning to hit eight pro games in one week, starting with the Eagles game against Pittsburgh on Oct. 30.

His source of wealth?

“I work in pharmaceuticals but do very well betting,” he said at a bar before Game 6 in Houston.

Sica, 54, of Quakertown, said he went to the Eagles Super Bowl victory in 2018 and the Phillies World Series games in 2008.

“If there’s a Philly game, I need to be there,” he said.

— Jason Nark

HOUSTON — After making a game-saving catch for the Houston Astros in Game 5, Chas McCormick was all smiles, despite joking that he didn’t have any friends left after the 3-2 Phillies loss.

“It was cool,” the West Chester native said of his signature World Series moment. “It was a really good catch. Perfect timing. It was a really big catch. I’m just happy that I was able to help the team win. I watched it a lot. A lot of people sent it to me, but it’s a new day.”

So how did it feel to literally leave his mark on Citizens Bank Park?

“I know my 13-year-old self would be really mad at me,” he said, “but leaving my mark in my hometown ballpark, there’s nothing better.”

McCormick says he’s growing more comfortable in center field. Heading into this season, he’d played 33 of his 104 career MLB games in center. This year, he’s appeared in center in 60 of his 118 regular-season games.

“Kind of been more of a corner outfielder guy, but they really needed me to play center field,” he said. “I’ve done a lot of work this year, even in spring training, to be a good center fielder because being a good center fielder is really big in this league. You have control over the whole outfield. But, yeah, I’m just trying to make plays for the team wherever I’m at. I’m confident in wherever I’m at, and for the past couple of months, I’m starting to feel really good in center field.”

The catch gave McCormick’s Astros a 3-2 series lead, and he’s now turned his attention to Game 6 — a game in which the Astros have struggled. They dropped Game 6 in both 2019 and 2021, and the Washington Nationals and Atlanta Braves, respectively, won those World Series.

— Maria McIlwain

» READ MORE: West Chester native and Astros centerfielder Chas McCormick literally left his mark in Philly during the World Series

HOUSTON — An Astros fan sitting down for brunch did a double take Saturday afternoon, then reached out his hand, hoping for a fist bump.

“Todd Kalas. Legend,” the man said.

Kalas, 56, gets that a lot here. He’s beloved by Astros fans the way his dad, the late legend Harry Kalas, was in Philadelphia, for decades.

Houston and Philadelphia, about 525 miles apart as the crow flies, intersect like highways through Kala’s life, with a long detour to Tampa Bay as well. He was born in Houston in 1965, the year his father started announcing for the Astros, but spent most of his youth in the Philadelphia area after his father was hired to broadcast Phillies games in 1971.

A Conestoga High School graduate, Kalas followed his father’s smooth baritone into baseball after graduating from Syracuse University. He started with the Tampa Bay Rays in 1998. In 2017, Kalas debuted as the television play-by-play man for the Astros. Kalas grew up running through the bowels of Veteran’s Stadium, shagging fly balls on the dreaded turf, and looking up, in awe, at icons like Mike Schmidt and Steve Carlton.

“It was like my playground, like a summer camp,” he said at the brunch spot near Minute Maid Park.

» READ MORE: Born in Houston, raised in the Vet, Astros broadcaster Todd Kalas finds his own voice in baseball

— Jason Nark

HOUSTON — If the Astros win the World Series, they will have to do it without their first baseman.

Yuli Gurriel will be replaced on the Astros’ roster after injuring his knee in Game 5. Houston will activate catcher Korey Lee, which will enable them to use backup catcher Christian Vazquez as the designated hitter.

“Yuli’s been one of our best hitters in the postseason, so, obviously, it stinks not having him, but we have guys that know their role, and we’re confident in anybody that’s going to be in that lineup,” said outfielder Chas McCormick said. “We have a lot of good hitters on this team, so I don’t think it will change much. Obviously, losing Yuli sucks, but, at this time, everybody’s got to be ready.”

Trey Mancini, who made a great play to end the eighth inning of Game 5, will play first base in place of Gurriel.

— Scott Lauber

One Phillies pitcher traded his red for blue on Saturday as the team warmed up for Game Six of the World Series.

Ranger Suarez, who could pitch Saturday in relief, wore a Philadelphia Union jersey with his name on the back as he played catch in left field. The Phillies aren’t the only team dreaming of a title on Saturday.

— Matt Breen

The Phillies will trot out a different lineup for Game 6 than they did in the last few games — but it shouldn’t come as a surprise. As has been the case all postseason, Rob Thomson is riding with his righty-heavy lineup against Astros starter Framber Valdez, who beat the Phillies in Game 2.

— Matt Mullin

They have tickets for Game 6 and 7, return flights booked for Sunday and Monday, and a whole lot faith.

The men gathered, in their Phillies gear, at a downtown cafe for breakfast, hours before Game 6.

“We didn’t come out here for just one game”, said Menno Eby, who flew out from Lancaster County with his son, Nick, and friend, Craig Hartranft.

“We don’t want to fly home tomorrow,” Hartranft added. “We need six good innings from Wheeler.

— Jason Nark

The Phillies like to use the phrase “flush it.” After a tough loss — like their 3-2 defeat against the Astros in Game 5 of the World Series on Thursday — it is often what they say they’ll do, and more times than not they actually do it. At the beginning of the season, they struggled with this. They’d rattle off three, four, five losses at a time. By May 31, they were 21-29 and 12.5 games back in the National League East.

Jean Segura was placed on the injured list the next day, with a right index finger fracture. In retrospect, Kyle Gibson called it “rock bottom.”

“We were in a tough spot,” Gibson said. “I also think the whole situation with Joe [Girardi] kind of had everybody holding their breath. When is it going to happen? What is going to happen? You can’t ignore those rumors, right. You’re trying to play a game. You’re trying to not worry about it. But we’re all humans. I think that was part of it.

“So you take a deep breath and say ‘OK, it’s time to approach this a little bit different.’ Because what we had done just wasn’t working.”

In the five months since Girardi was fired as manager, the Phillies have learned how to “flush it.” This has been even more true in the playoffs. In the NL Division Series against the Braves, they won Game 1 in Atlanta, lost Game 2 after recording three hits and no runs, and came back to win their next two games at home. In the National League Championship Series, they won Game 1 in San Diego, lost Game 2, and won their next three games at home.

Now, they’ll need to do it in the World Series.

— Alex Coffey

» READ MORE: The Phillies’ art of ‘flushing it’ will be put to the test with a must-win Game 6 vs. the Astros

When it comes to the over/under, the under has been 3-1-1 in the last five World Series contests. The under is also 3-0-1 in Framber Valdez’s four playoff starts (with final scores of 3-2, 4-2, 3-2, and 5-2) and 2-1-1 in Zack Wheeler’s four postseason outings.

The one over for Wheeler? A 4-3 victory in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series against the Padres when the total was 6.5. And, it was somewhat of a bad beat, as Philadelphia had a 2-1 lead after six innings.

Yes, the Astros ambushed Wheeler in the first inning of Game 2, scoring three times (including that one unearned run) before an out was recorded. But we expect the Phillies’ ace to be much sharper in Game 6, especially with his team’s season on the line.

We also expect Valdez to be Valdez again and the bullpens — both rested after Friday’s day off — to do their part.

— Matt Jacob, The Action Network

» READ MORE: Phillies vs. Astros World Series odds, predictions for Game 6

These Astros fans did not get a particularly warm welcome at Citizens Bank Park.

Inquirer reporter, and massive Phillies fan, Kristen Graham went undercover as an Astros fan during Game 3 at CBP and was surprised by how — dare we say it?? — polite Phillies fans were.

» READ MORE: ‘What the hell are you wearing?’: I wore an Astros jersey to a World Series game in Philly

Khodr Kobeissi, a diehard Phillies fan since he emigrated to Philadelphia from Lebanon in the 1970s, couldn’t swing $1,000 for World Series tickets but he was still happy to watch the Phils, who lost a heartbreaker, 3-2, in Game 5 Thursday night. With the Series moving to Houston and the season nearly over, it was fans’ last chance to see their team play at Citizens Bank Park until April 6, when the 2023 team is scheduled to take on the Cincinnati Reds in the home opener.

But the high cost of tickets — with even face-value seats in the hundreds of dollars per ticket, and most fans missing out on the lottery to buy those — dampened the World Series experience for those who couldn’t afford to shell out thousands for tickets to the big games.

“We’re frustrated,” said Jennifer Gotthelf, a teacher from Moorestown. She watched the series on TV, cheering herself hoarse, fuming when she saw some people sitting close to the field not cheering, not in Phillies gear, or looking at their cell phones. She even wondered if more “regular people” had been in the stadium, the energy would have been different.

“All the millionaires or the people who know somebody, or the big executives who don’t go to games during the regular season, but go to the World Series for status, that’s frustrating.”

» READ MORE: ‘We can’t afford that’: For these Phils die-hards, out-of-reach ticket prices dampen World Series

— Kristen A. Graham

The human body is built to throw a baseball at peak force and with precision command, over and over, for only so long. So, if it’s the first week of November and the World Series is undecided, just assume that there’s some intrigue surrounding the health and effectiveness of at least one high-profile starting pitcher.

In Zack Wheeler’s case, the mystery meter isn’t quite cranked up to 2004 Curt Schilling/bloody sock levels or even Max Scherzer’s spasming neck muscles in 2019. But with the Phillies on the brink of extinction as the 118th World Series returns to Texas for Game 6 on Saturday night, nobody knows what to expect from their ace.

Not even Wheeler.

“I think the extra rest always helps,” he said Friday before the Phillies flew to Houston. “The bullpen [session] felt good. I think we’re on track.”

» READ MORE: Phillies turning to Zack Wheeler in must-win Game 6, but nobody knows what to expect from the ace

— Scott Lauber

Astros center fielder Chas McCormick broke the hearts of Phillies fans in Game 5 with a leaping catch in the ninth inning. But the West Chester native left his mark in Philadelphia in a more literal way.

After the catch, he rested on the warning track several seconds before getting up. Immediately afterwards, an Astros fan sitting in the stands leaned over and took a shot of the dirt, revealing McCormick’s imprint.

Other fans got similar shots of McCormick’s impression on the warning track dirt.

So what was it like for McCormick to rob the team he grew up rooting for?

“Best feeling ever, just laying there,” McCormick told the Inquirer after the game.

“Honestly, I thought he hit it out,” McCormick added, noting he was a little mad at himself for not being more aggressive on a play earlier in the game. This time – “I was going to run through a wall and catch it.”

» READ MORE: West Chester’s Chas McCormick breaks Phillies hearts, calls it ‘best feeling ever’

— Rob Tornoe

We’ve been here longer. Really, we have!

The Philadelphia Inquirer was, in fact, born about 54 years before the Philadelphia Phillies. So when it comes to the city’s baseball team, we’ve seen it all, and we have the photographs to prove it.

The Phillies have called four ballparks home since they moved into the Baker Bowl, then known as National League Park, and each of them has hosted World Series games.

So The Inquirer dug into the archives for photos depicting those four ballparks and eight World Series.

» READ MORE: The Phillies’ World Series history, from The Inquirer photo archives

— Staff Reports

What channel is Phillies-Astros on?

Phillies-Astros Game 6 is scheduled to begin at 8:03 p.m. Eastern Saturday on Fox.

Here’s where you can watch and listen in Philadelphia:

Where can I stream Phillies-Astros?

Phillies-Astros will stream on the Fox Sports app, though it will only be available to those with a cable subscription.

The game will also stream on any so-called skinny bundle that carries Fox, including fuboTV, YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV, Sling TV, and DirecTV Stream. Most offer a free trial.

If you’re looking to stream the game for free and you live in or around Philadelphia, your best option is using a digital antenna, since all the games will air on broadcast television.

— Rob Tornoe

* If necessary