It was another heartbreaking night for the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday, after a disastrous error in the 11th inning of Game 4 saw them crash out of the MLB postseason at the hands of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Dodgers won 2-1 on the night to clinch a NL Division Series win and advance to the NL Championship Series (NLCS), but the game will likely be remembered more for how the Phillies lost it, than how the Dodgers won.

Extra innings were needed to separate the two teams at Dodger Stadium after a tense contest saw Phillies right fielder Nick Castellanos driving in Max Kepler in the top of the seventh and Justin Dean scoring for LA off a walk with the bases loaded in the bottom of the inning.

The stage was then set for a moment the Phillies and pitcher Orion Kerkering would love to forget as quickly as possible.

Manager Rob Thomson took full responsibility during his postgame press conference, refusing to blame any individual player. “We win as a team and we lose as a team,” he said firmly. “It’s easy to point fingers when something like that happens, but we all had chances to close it out before that moment.

The guys gave everything they had — that’s what makes this so tough.” His players echoed that sentiment, describing the locker room as “silent” and “heartbroken.” Pitcher Aaron Nola reportedly sat in full uniform for nearly 30 minutes after the game, staring at the floor.

The Dodgers, meanwhile, were quick to acknowledge the bittersweet nature of their victory. “You never want to see a game end like that,” Mookie Betts said in his postgame interview. “Those guys battled all series long. It’s tough, but that’s baseball — anything can happen.”

The Dodgers will now advance to the National League Championship Series, but even among their fans, there was an understanding of how brutal the loss was for Philadelphia. “We got lucky,” one Dodgers supporter admitted. “That wasn’t dominance. That was survival.”

For the Phillies, the offseason now looms with tough questions. They’ve built a powerhouse roster capable of deep playoff runs, but defensive consistency has remained an Achilles’ heel. Team executives will likely evaluate coaching strategies and roster depth, especially in the infield.

“This is not the way we wanted to go out,” said president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski. “We’re proud of our guys, but we’ve got work to do. You don’t get many opportunities like this — we have to learn from it and come back stronger.”

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With the bases loaded and two outs in the 11th, Dodgers outfielder Andy Pages struck a routine ground ball back towards Kerkering.

On any normal given day, the reliever would have thrown to first base for an easy out, but the occasion seemed to get to the 24-year-old.

Instead, he fumbled the ball, before trying to throw back to home plate, where his attempt totally missed Phillies catcher JT Realmuto’s outstretched mitt. The baffling error allowed Kim Hye-seong to score the winning run and send the home fans into a frenzy.

During the incident, Realmuto was seen pointing for Kerkering to throw to first base and, afterwards, Kim said he was equally surprised the pitcher chose to throw home. The Dodgers second baseman initially ran past home plate before returning to touch it.

While wild celebrations sparked around him, Kerkering was left standing motionless, head bowed, in the middle of the field, before some of his Phillies teammates came to comfort him.

“Just hit off my foot,” Kerkering, still visibly emotional, told reporters after the game.

“Once the pressure got to me, I just thought there’s a little faster throw to JT, little quicker throw than trying to cross-body it to Bryce (Harper at first). So just a horsesh*t throw.”

Dodgers players flooded onto the field to celebrate the win.
Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Imagn/Reuters

Kerkering added that his Phillies teammates were quick to shoulder some of the blame themselves for several missed opportunities throughout the game.

Philadelphia manager Rob Thomson also had words of support for Kerkering when speaking to reporters after the defeat. The pair had been seen speaking together as the relief pitcher trudged off the field.

“He just got caught up in the moment a little bit,” Thomson said. “Coming down the stretch, he pitched so well for us.

“I feel for him because he’s putting it all on his shoulders, but we win as a team and lose as a team.”

The Dodgers, meanwhile, progressed into the NLCS for the eighth time in the last 13 seasons, where they will face either the Chicago Cubs or the Milwaukee Brewers – who play a series-deciding Game 5 of their NLDS on Saturday night in Wisconsin after the Cubs won Game 4 6-0 at Wrigley Field.

The team’s celebrations in the locker room post-game showed a squad eager to enjoy every bit of its World Series title defense.

“That was a nail-biter,” Dodgers catcher Will Smith, soaked in beer, said after the victory. “They cracked. We didn’t.”

The reaction from fans was immediate and emotional. Phillies supporters flooded social media with disbelief, anger, and heartbreak. “That’s the worst way to lose a playoff game,” one fan posted.

“Not by getting beat, but by beating yourself.” Others pointed out that communication errors had haunted the Phillies at times during the regular season — something that clearly came back to bite them at the worst possible moment. “We’ve seen it before,” one longtime fan tweeted. “But never like this. This one’s going to hurt for a long time.”

The heartbreaking error will no doubt live in Philadelphia sports infamy, joining a long list of near-misses that fans will never forget — from the Joe Carter home run in 1993 to the Super Bowl heartbreaks that defined other eras of Philly sports.

Yet amid the frustration, there was also perspective. “These guys gave us one hell of a season,” a fan posted outside Citizens Bank Park. “Yeah, it ended badly, but you can’t say they didn’t fight. That’s what being a Philly fan’s all about — pain and pride, side by side.”

As for Trea Turner and Bryson Stott, both have vowed to move forward together, not apart. “We’ve got each other’s backs,” Turner told reporters before boarding the team flight home. “No one’s pointing fingers. We’re a family — and sometimes families mess up. We’ll learn from it, and next year, we’ll be ready.”

It was the kind of ending that reminds everyone why postseason baseball is as cruel as it is captivating — a single split-second of chaos turning triumph into tragedy. For the Phillies, it will take time to heal. For their fans, it may take even longer. But as the dust settles, one truth remains clear: in a sport where perfection is impossible, heartbreak often writes the most unforgettable storie