The San Diego Padres and the Philadelphia Phillies are one game away from advancing to the NLCS following Friday’s results. The Padres got the job done in the night cap, beating their NL West rivals 2-1 at home to put the Dodgers on the brink of elimination. Jake Cronenworth opened the offense in the bottom of the first with an RBI single before Trent Grisham hit a solo home run in the fourth to give his team a 2-0 lead.
Los Angeles did get a sac fly RBI from Mookie Betts in the top of the fifth, but that was all they would get, allowing their foes, the same ones they finished 22 games in front of in the regular season, the chance to knock them out come Saturday. Elsewhere, the defending World Series champion Atlanta Braves will be in the same spot as the Dodgers after they were hammered 9-1 in Philly. The Braves never faced a must-win in last year’s magical playoff run, but they will need to win on Saturday just to get back to Atlanta after a six-run third inning from the hosts effectively killed off their chances of taking the lead in the series. Rhys Hoskins hit a three-run homer in that frame and Bryce Harper had a two-run shot, too, and they’ll now have two shots to seal the deal and knock the Bravos out.
