Nick Castellanos and the never normal Phillies are getting closer to October baseball (2024)

ATLANTA — It was here, 241 feet from home plate, where Nick Castellanos channeled the chaotic energy last October that has since defined the Phillies. He slid for a game-ending catch that allowed the Phillies to steal a postseason game against the mighty Braves. It was an awakening. Castellanos admitted that, when the games became more intense, he discovered something.

So, on Wednesday afternoon as he drifted to a spot in foul territory that was 238 feet from home plate, everyone in the dugout pleaded for Castellanos to trust his instincts.

“Drop it,” manager Rob Thomson said.

“I already told him that I had to be honest,” Garrett Stubbs said. “I was screaming at the top of my lungs to drop it.”

“I saw him not get behind it,” Bryson Stott said, “and I said, ‘Oh crap.’”

There is a voice in his head, Castellanos said. “Usually he just pops up when I’m hitting. You know? Like, don’t take this 2-0 pitch.” The voice does not sound like Scooby-Doo. He heard the voice as he moved toward the foul ball with one out in the ninth inning and the winning run on third base. “Catch it,” the voice said. “Throw him out.” Castellanos did it with a flourish, a spinning motion that resulted in a perfect throw home. It was both wrong and lucky.

Nick Castellanos the man that you are!!!! pic.twitter.com/xWXjhJH84n

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) September 20, 2023

The Phillies are never normal. They are John Kruk shouting “NO!” as he’s attempting to analyze what he’s seeing only to yell “YES!” in the same breath. They make everything harder than required, but this is who they are. “He’s evil,” Castellanos said. The voice, that is.

Castellanos just leaned into it — the voice, the moment, the feeling. All of it.

“Sounds like Nick,” Stott said.

When Thomson dropped Castellanos to eighth in the lineup earlier this month, the $100 million outfielder wasn’t happy. He was an All-Star in July and endured two prolonged slumps after that. Other hitters deserved to bat in the middle of the lineup. Maybe Castellanos understood, but that didn’t make him happy. Maybe there was a day when he skipped his early work in the outfield as a protest. Maybe he felt insulted and maybe it pushed him to prove he was better.

He has slugged five homers and driven in 14 runs in 12 games since being moved to the lower third of the lineup. He homered twice Wednesday in the Phillies’ 6-5 win in 10 innings.

“I like him down there because it gives you some more thump down at the bottom of the lineup,” Thomson said. “As I said to him when we did it, he’s going to have plenty of opportunities to drive people in because the guys in front of him, they’re going to get on base. He’s going to have plenty of opportunities for RBIs.”

Castellanos is not a perfect player — far from it — but he has made the big moments count. It is a trait the Phillies have flaunted for more than a year now. It’s why the Braves, unquestionably the favorites to win the World Series, see the Phillies as perhaps their most formidable test in October.

“You know how you stack up against somebody,” Stott said. “One swing kind of determines each game (against Atlanta), it feels like. We want it to be our swing.”

Stott delivered the swing Wednesday in the 10th inning and it was not pretty. It was an awkward swing against a tough lefty, A.J. Minter, and it resulted in a two-run, opposite-field double. Last year, the Phillies might have pinch-hit for Stott in that situation. Last year, the Phillies might not have had the luxury of dropping Castellanos that far down the order. Last year, the Phillies would have lost this game because it’s September and that is how this goes. They still would have been in decent shape, but they would not have felt great about leaving Truist Park with another win that slipped away.

“They just kept fighting,” Thomson said.

The Phillies had lost their previous five extra-inning games. They should have never played extra innings Wednesday because they had a four-run lead. They should have never played extra innings Wednesday because Castellanos’ chances of making that play were slim.

“I was just surprised at the throw he made, really,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “He was coming in with a full head of steam, and then to do a 360 and make a throw that close, is pretty good. Really.”

The Phillies have a 2 1/2-game lead for the No. 4 seed in the National League with 10 games to play. They have a seven-game homestand against inferior teams and, at some point, there should be another champagne celebration in the home clubhouse at Citizens Bank Park. Maybe it’ll be unhinged like every party the Phillies had last October. Maybe it won’t because they’ve been there and now the expectation isn’t just reaching the postseason tournament.

There is something about the six-month struggle, and these Phillies would know. They haven’t faced the type of adversity caused by injuries or managerial firings, but they have overcome problems big and small.

They have authored incredible comebacks and suffered too many devastating late-game losses. On Wednesday, they lurched over the hump and actually finished the season with a winning record (4-3) at Truist Park for only the second time since it opened in 2017.

“It’s all familiarity and the fact that we’ve been there,” Castellanos said. “All that stuff doesn’t hurt. You don’t want to have smooth sailing and win every game 10-0 and the first time you face adversity is in postseason baseball.”

They have issues to resolve in the next 10 days. But they can sense the moment coming, and it’s a challenge that a bunch of talented weirdos embrace. Craig Kimbrel took his league-leading 13th pitch-timer violation, then allowed two stolen bases only for Castellanos’ insane play to absolve him. Jeff Hoffman and Gregory Soto combined to surrender an eighth-inning lead. The offense didn’t add on after Castellanos’ homers in the second and fourth.

But Aaron Nola pitched only his second game this season in which he did not allow a home run or a walk. And he did it against the potent Braves.

“What better time to do that than right now?” Stubbs said.

That’s what the voice told Castellanos. Screw it. Go for it. It’s the Phillies.

“October,” Castellanos said, “is getting pretty close.”

(Top photo of Nick Castellanos’ ninth-inning, game-saving play: Brynn Anderson / Associated Press)

Matt Gelb is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the Philadelphia Phillies. He has covered the team since 2010 while at The Philadelphia Inquirer, including a yearlong pause from baseball as a reporter on the city desk. He is a graduate of Syracuse University and Central Bucks High School West.