Phillies

Phillies Clinch! Johan Rojas Walks it Off (UPDATED)

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Sep 26th, 2023 · 9:45 PM EDT

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The Phillies are going going, back back, to the postseason after Johan Rojas walked it off:

JOHAN ROJAS WALKS IT OFF TO SEND THE PHILLIES TO THE POSTSEASON!!! pic.twitter.com/KmLKw9CiUt

— MLB Clutch Moments And Walk Offs (@MLBWalk_Offs) September 27, 2023

Awesome. Great moment in a game that wasn’t very great. But who gives a shit about that, because the Phillies are going back to the playoffs. Anthony is heading down to the locker room right now.

Let’s talk about expectations though –

This team was supposed to go to the playoffs. You come off a Cinderella World Series run and that’s the bare minimum, getting back to the postseason. But these moments don’t happen very often. Only last year did they break a 10-season playoff drought, so we should try to enjoy these when they occur. The Braves are the Braves, and jumped out to a huge division lead without looking back, but the Phils were 25-32 on June 2nd and have gone 63-37 since then. Very few teams played better baseball through the summer and into September, so credit where it’s due – these guys really shrugged off a poor start and played their way back into contention.

LFG.

EDIT 1 – oh shit, they also clinched the top WC spot:

Phillies not only clinch a playoff spot, they clinch the top WC spot tonight after this unfathomable error by Suzuki in the 8th inning that cost the Cubs the lead and eventually the game.

pic.twitter.com/DxZPo1zYEx

— Kevin Negandhi (@KevinNegandhi) September 27, 2023