Red October is back as the Phillies clinch the top wild-card spot after a walk-off win

With another postseason looming, the man who signs the checks thinks this Phillies team is better than last year. And the proof might have been in the 10th inning on Tuesday.

Phillies catcher Garrett Stubbs sprays champagne on teammates during the celebration in the clubhouse on Tuesday.Read moreSteven M. Falk / Staff Photographer

by Scott Lauber

Published Sep. 26, 2023, 9:43 p.m. ET

The ball skidded up the middle, the winning run crossed the plate in a cloud of dust, and there, standing near second base, the man of the moment heaved his helmet skyward and turned to face his onrushing Phillies teammates.

Just like Johan Rojas always dreamed, right?

“Honestly,” Rojas said through a team interpreter, as pitcher Ranger Suárez doused them with beer, “it’s surreal.”

The Phillies are going back to the playoffs, but you knew that. For a while, it has been a matter of when they would clinch a wild card, not if. The moment arrived a few minutes past 9:30 Tuesday night. Rojas sliced a one-out single off tough Pirates closer David Bednar, driving in pinch-runner Cristian Pache in the 10th inning for a 3-2 victory before 32,116 delirious fans at Citizens Bank Park.

Cue the party. It kicked off with a dogpile on Rojas in the middle of the field, then carried into the clubhouse with beer, champagne, and stogies. Backup catcher/team DJ Garrett Stubbs fired up his inimitable playlist, including “Dancing On My Own,” the 2022 anthem. Owner John Middleton put on a red T-shirt and flip flops, and ran into the middle of the fray.

Oh, and mark your calendar: The Phillies, who also locked up the No. 4 seed in the National League when the Cubs lost in Atlanta, will open the postseason next Tuesday, at home, in a best-of-three series. They will face the Diamondbacks, Cubs, or Marlins.

Scouts from those teams, and others, have trailed the Phillies over the last few weeks to file reports. The consensus: Nobody should want to play them.

“Our team is built for October,” Bryce Harper said. “I think a lot of people know that.”

Indeed, after all that happened last October en route to Game 6 of the World Series, the 2023 Phillies were bound to be compared to — even measured against — last year’s team. In many ways, they authored a nearly carbon-copy season.

There were the quicksand starts (22-29 last year; 25-32 this season) and the June awakenings, the free agents who carried the initial burden of a weighty contract (2022 Nick Castellanos meet 2023 Trea Turner) and even Aaron Nola’s nearly identical line from the playoff-clincher in both years.

But if you will allow the man who signs the paychecks to be so immodest, listen to Middleton in the din of the celebration.

“I think we’re a better team this year than we were last year,” he said. “I think the offense is stronger, and I think our fielding is materially better, too. I think our bullpen is deeper. I just think we’re better.”

The proof might have been in the 10th inning against the Pirates.

After Craig Kimbrel coughed up a 2-1 lead in the eighth inning by giving up a game-tying homer to Henry Davis, and the Phillies left the go-ahead run in scoring position in the ninth, reliever Jeff Hoffman came on to pitch the 10th.

Not only wasn’t Hoffman with the Phillies last year. He wasn’t even in the organization in spring training. He signed a minor league deal at the end of March after being released by the Twins, went to triple A, and walked seven batters in nine innings.

Then, with a looming opt-out clause in his contract, Hoffman was summoned to face Harper, who was rehabbing from an offseason elbow ligament reconstruction. Harper was impressed. The Phillies gave Hoffman a chance, and he emerged as their most consistent reliever.

“I didn’t take it lightly,” Hoffman said. “I knew that, if I made a good impression, they potentially could look past those triple-A numbers. The rest is history.”

Sure, but a 2.47 ERA and 68 strikeouts in 51 innings, including a whiff of Davis to escape a two-on, one-out situation in the 10th?

Nobody could’ve seen that coming.

“It was like something I’ve never felt before,” said Hoffman, who pounded his chest and stomped off the mound. “Everything that I was feeling, that’s what came out of me.”

The Phillies didn’t plan on Rojas being here, either. Last year, when they were surging through October, the young center fielder was at home in the Dominican Republic, following along on television.

“I watched every single game from home,” he said, “and all I could think of was, ‘Next year, I really want to be there. I really, really want to be part of this team.’”

Rojas went to spring training but was among the first players to be sent to minor league camp. When the Phillies called him up from double A after the All-Star break, it was supposed to be temporary. He’s an elite center fielder, but even amid a strong first half at Reading, he remained a work in progress at the plate.

Only Rojas never went back to the minors. He made a significant impact with his defense and didn’t look overmatched at the plate, even against high-velocity right-handers. The eye-opener for manager Rob Thomson came July 29 in Pittsburgh, when Rojas lined a single against Bednar.

As it turns out, it was foreshadowing.

Facing Bednar again, Rojas fell behind two strikes, took a pitch in the dirt, then got the hit that clinched a playoff spot.

“Any time you have young guys coming up, or guys that you get in the middle of the season, you’ve got to take advantage,” Harper said. “Hoffman came in and shut the door. Pache scoring the winning run, Rojas getting the game-winning hit. Probably wouldn’t think that at the beginning of the year, right?”

Added left fielder Brandon Marsh: “Hoff-daddy, Ro, we wouldn’t be here without those two. We wouldn’t be close to here without those two. They bring so much to the table.”

But while there’s little doubt the Phillies are deeper than a year ago, they remain anchored by their star-studded core. There may have been no better sign, then, than Nola posting a second consecutive solid start.

It’s been a difficult season for the homegrown pitcher. After not coming to an agreement on a contract extension and betting on himself entering his free-agent walk year, he gave up 32 homers in 32 starts and posted a 4.46 ERA.

Nola beat back some of his struggles with runners on base in a promising start last week in Atlanta. And he dominated the Pirates. Over his last two starts, he allowed three runs on 10 hits in 12⅔ walk-free innings.

Imagine if he pitches like that in the postseason.

“I think we’re a little better positioned than we were last year at this time,” Nola said.

That’s undeniable. The playoffs start in less than a week. The ride might only just be beginning.