Phillies will play their first-ever Game 7 with the World Series on the line

Arizona jumped on Nola early to hand the Phillies their first home loss of their playoff run and set up the first Game 7 in the franchise’s 141-year history.

Rob Thomson pulls starting pitcher Aaron Nola in the fifth inning. Nola allowed four earned runs in 4 1/3 innings of Game 6.Read moreYong Kim / Staff Photographer

by Scott Lauber

Published Oct. 23, 2023, 8:24 p.m. ET

It took 141 seasons, but the Phillies will finally play a Game 7.

Nervous?

Of course you are.

But all that really mattered Monday night, in the aftermath of a 5-1 no-show of a loss to the scrappy Arizona Diamondbacks in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series, was how the Phillies felt about coming back Tuesday for winner-take-all showdown with a return trip to the World Series on the line.

So, ignore that lump in your throat, and chew on this:

“It’s going to be exciting,” Kyle Schwarber said. “It’s what you play for.”

Bryce Harper added, “I’m just glad we’re at home and playing in front of our home crowd. Only one game matters right now.”

And from Game 7 starter Ranger Suárez, through a team interpreter: “There’s always a first time. It’s my turn now. I’m excited to be on the mound [Tuesday].”

OK, a few stats to settle the stomach: The Phillies lost at home on back-to-back days to the same opponent only three times since the All-Star break and six times all season. It hasn’t happened since Sept. 12-13 against Atlanta. And they’re 28-12 in the postseason at Citizens Bank Park since it hosted its first playoff game in 2007.

But it didn’t have to come to this. Not only did the Phillies have a shot to reclaim the pennant on the anniversary of last year’s clincher, they also gave the ball to Aaron Nola, who started four games in the last 12 months in which the Phillies clinched either a playoff berth or series.

The script was all but written. You’ve seen this play before.

Here’s the thing, though, expressed perfectly if somewhat inelegantly by Arizona manager Torey Lovullo in a lunchtime news conference, 4½ hours before the first pitch: “We didn’t come cross-country to get our ass kicked.”

Instead, the Diamondbacks did the kicking.

They teed off on Nola with back-to-back homers in a three-run second inning, then muted the Phillies’ big bats almost as much as the 45,473 boisterous-turned-anxious paying customers.

Nola, nasty in three previous playoff starts, reverted to the command troubles that plagued him in the regular season. He said he regretted a curveball over the plate to Tommy Pham and a sinker to Lourdes Gurriel Jr. that lingered “right in his bat path.”

The end for Nola came in the fifth inning. As he walked off the mound after allowing a single to Corbin Carroll, skidding at 2-for-21, and a triple into the right field corner by scorching Ketel Marte, he received warm applause. It’s possible the homegrown righty was starting his final game in Citizens Bank Park.

“Obviously tonight wasn’t a great night for me,” Nola said.

He wasn’t alone. The Diamondbacks’ strategy was translucent: Don’t get beaten by Schwarber and Harper. Merrill Kelly walked both in the first inning and lived to tell about it because he retired Alec Bohm and Bryson Stott. The Phillies had six hits and 10 strikeouts against Kelly and four relievers.

Want to bet Arizona takes a similar tack in Game 7?

Manager Rob Thomson has used the same lineup, including Bohm in the cleanup spot, for most of the postseason. He said there’s “zero” chance that he will change the batting order now, even though Bohm is 6-for-22 with one extra-base hit in the NLCS.

Don’t dwell too much on the Suárez-Brandon Pfaddt pitching matchup. Every pitcher on both teams, save Nola and Kelly, will be ready. That includes Phillies ace Zack Wheeler and Diamondbacks counterpart Zac Gallen, both available out of the bullpen on two days’ rest.

“If [Thomson] asks me to do it, I’ll be down,” Wheeler said. “For sure.”

That’s how Game 7s are. The Phillies have some experience with it. In 2017, Thomson was the Yankees’ bench coach when they lost Game 7 of the ALCS. Schwarber and Trea Turner won Game 7 of the World Series in 2016 and 2019 with the Cubs and Nationals, respectively.

Surely there must be lessons they can impart on their teammates.

“You don’t want to put extra added anything, extra pressure, right?” said Schwarber, who had three hits in the 2016 Cubs’ 10-inning Game 7 victory. “The writing’s on the wall. It’s Game 7, you know? Everyone sees it, everyone knows it. We know that we’ve got to come out and we’ve got to play our best game.

“It’s going to be good, anxious nerves coming into the field [Tuesday]. This is what you live for. Going into the backyard, Game 7, putting yourself in those situations. It’s going to be fun.”

Maybe. But it didn’t have to be so difficult.

“It’s [stinks], right?” Schwarber said. “You wish you got it done today, absolutely. But it’s an exciting thing. We’re embracing it. We’re in this spot and have a chance to play our best game [Tuesday] to move on to the World Series.”

And so, it turns out there’s a first time for everything, including a Game 7 that’s 141 seasons in the making.

Nervous?

“Sounds like a lot of fun,” Nick Castellanos said. “What a great opportunity.”