September 30, 2025

Phillies Wild Card playoff rooting guide: the Reds or the Dodgers?

The Phillies don't exactly have the best numbers this season against their two potential NLDS opponents. Which one should they prefer and why?

By Evan Macy
PhillyVoice Staff

Reds-Dodgers-Phillies-Wild-Card-preview_093025

Kirby Lee/Imagn Images

Who would you rather face, the Dodgers or the Reds?

Saturday in South Philly, at 1 p.m. or 7 pm, Cris Sánchez will be throwing a pitch to open the 2025 NLDS. We just don't know who will be standing in the batter's box yet.

The Phillies will be facing the winner of this week's Wild Card series between the Dodgers (the 3 seed) and the Reds (the 6 seed). Which of those teams is a better match up for the Phillies?

For whatever reason, the Phillies have fared very well against the Dodgers — a team with a better roster across the board on paper and a team defending their World Series title from 11 months ago. They won four out of six games against them this season. In 2024 they went 5-1 against them.

The Reds actually outscored the Phils, 26-19, in their two series against each other this season as they split six games, 3-3.

The pitching on both teams is extremely solid and the Phillies struggled against both teams at the plate. Overall this season. the Phils had an OPS of .759, 4th-highest in the majors. Against Cincy this year it was .633 and L.A. it was .612, two of the six worst offensive outputs against any opponent they had in 2025.

The Dodgers have a very deep starting rotation and are likely to trot out some combination of Blake Snell (2.35 ERA), Yoshinobu Yamamoto (2.49 ERA), Clayton Kershaw (3.36 ERA) Emmet Sheehan (2.82 ERA) or Shohei Ohtani (2.87 ERA) for a five-game series.

The Reds' top three starters are Hunter Green (2.76 ERA), Zack Littell (3.81 ERA) and Andrew Abbott (2.81 ERA).

On the other side of things, Philadelphia's 3.79 season ERA was also inflated against the Reds and Dodgers, as they struggled against both. Against Cincy their ERA was 4.15 and Los Angeles it was 4.67, thanks in part to 13 surrendered homers in six games against.

The Dodgers are loaded with left-handed hitters like Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and Max Muncy, which should play into Philly's hands as they could go with three left-handed starting pitchers. Cincinnati, on the other hand, hits mostly from the right side.

It's a really tough and perhaps a negligible difference when it comes down to it, as both teams are less-than-desirable opponents for the Phillies next week.

Who should Phillies fans root for then? The answer here is the Reds. They have the least postseason experience in the playoff field and the Dodgers rival the Phillies for the most. If the Reds can skirt by the Dodgers, perhaps a longer 5-game series will give the Phillies' experience an edge.

Either way, Phillies fans should root for it to go to three games, so both teams are more tired and use more pitchers.

Who will win this match up? The Dodgers are -245 betting favorites, and it makes sense as to why: here is a snippet of their overall numbers from the season: