It will be Phillies-Dodgers in the NLDS.
Los Angeles put away the Cincinnati Reds, 8-4, on Wednesday night to take their NL Wild Card Series in a 2-0 sweep. They'll be on their way to Philadelphia.
Game 1 is Saturday night at Citizens Bank Park, with either a 6:08 p.m. ET or 6:38 p.m. ET first pitch, pending the outcome of the Yankees-Red Sox Wild Card series over in the AL.
Star left-hander Cristopher Sánchez is set to take the mound for the Phillies. Two-way megastar Shohei Ohtani, since he didn't pitch in the Wild Card round, is likely to get his turn for the Dodgers in Game 1 now instead.
The Phillies won the regular season series over the Dodgers, 4-2, which earned them the postseason tiebreaker for the No. 2 seed and the right to a bye into the NLDS had their 96-66 record not proved enough.
The latter part of that series also included the Phillies clinching their NL East title and taking two of three games over in LA the last time the two clubs met midway through September.
None of that is to say that the Phillies have an outright advantage, though.
The Dodgers are coming in with a ton of star power between Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and the two-way, game-breaking force that is Ohtani, and all as the defending World Series champions.
That said, the Phillies are bringing their heavy hitters, too.
Sánchez, Ranger Suárez, and Jesús Luzardo make up a lefty-heavy, though just as dominant starting rotation in the face of the club having lost longtime ace Zack Wheeler for the year due to a blood clot.
At the plate, Trea Turner leads off as the NL batting champion, Kyle Schwarber waits in the wings as the MVP-caliber power hitter who is always ready to launch a ball into the seats, and then, as always, there's Bryce Harper, who lives to make the moment in October.
A big-time best-of-five series is on deck, and for Philly fans, hopefully it's another Phils-Dodgers playoff matchup that will be looked back on fondly – up there with Matt Stairs ripping one into the night or Jimmy Rollins walking them off in the ninth.
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