Oct 4, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies manager Rob Thomson (49) signals to the bullpen during the seventh inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers during game one of the NLDS round for the 2025 MLB playoffs at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images
PHILADELPHIA - Bryson Stott saw what the Dodgers were planning to do. It's a shame Rob Thomson didn't see the same thing.
Stott was asked to bunt during a furious ninth inning rally - a highly questionable ask at that - and it couldn't have gone worse.
The Dodgers, expecting the bunt, had a wheel play on to cover third. They threw out Nick Castellanos - the tying run - at third base for the first out of the ninth inning, and although the Phillies ultimately did get the tying run within 90 feet of home, they couldn't pull off the dramatics, losing 4-3 and falling into a seemingly insurmountable 2-0 hole to Los Angeles in the best-of-5 NLDS.
Should the Phillies have taken the bunt off with the Dodgers cheating in?
(@TalkinBaseball_)
pic.twitter.com/k3IUjpT8ZP
Game 3 is Wednesday in L.A.
Before we diagnose this ill-fated decision, let's set the scene.
Down 4-1 going into the bottom if the ninth, and with Dave Roberts making an equally flabbergasting decision to turn the save opportunity over to Blake Treinen, rather than Roki Sasaki, the Phillies showed some signs of life.
Alec Bohm led off with a single. J.T. Realmuto followed with a double. Nick Castellanos blooped a ball down the line to score both of them, then gambled and turned a single into a double with a deft slide that allowed him to get his hand in before the tag, which was confirmed by replay review.
Momentum had finally come to the Philadelphia side. The ballpark was alive. The ever-resilient Phillies were on the brink of a comeback that would be played on video screens for generations to come.
And then they decided to bunt.
Yes, the Dodgers turned it over to Alex Vesia, a lefty reliever, and the Phillies were due to have three lefties in a row bat.
But they had the Dodgers on the ropes.
Here's the other thing... they, or more specifically Thomson, needed a better feel for the situation.
Castellanos was on second. He's not that fleet of foot.
"Nick is not Trea Turner running, so we had a better chance at that," Freddie Freeman said.
No. He's not, and yes they did.
Secondly, Thomson had committed to pinch hitting Harrison Bader for Brandon Marsh. The thing is, Bader can't run. So, he had to save Weston Wilson to pinch run for him. That meant the other two lefties - Stott and Max Kepler - would have to bat against Vesia.
With the bench situation compromised by Bader's limitation, giving the Dodgers a free out didn't seem prudent.
But Thomson was willing to die on that hill.
Rob Thomson to @TimKellySports, on the Bryson Stott bunt decision:
“Left on left, we’re trying to tie the score. I liked where our bullpen was at.”
(via @GraceDelPizzo) pic.twitter.com/Yz6iUwmtno
"It was left on left and we just wanted to tie the score," Thomson said. "I liked where our bullpen was at as compared to theirs. ... Mookie did a great job of disguising the wheel play. We tell our guys that if you see a wheel, just pull back and slash because you have all kinds of room in the middle. But Mookie broke so late it was tough for Stott to pick it up."
Was it, though?
Stott squared around on the first pitch from Vesia, but he pulled the bunt back because the pitch was a ball. The Dodgers showed the wheel play on that pitch.
"Obviously, I saw what they were doing on the first one, and obviously I tried to deaden it, but not too much so (catcher Will) Smith couldn't get up there and throw it to third. They ran it as perfect as you can."
So, Stott saw the wheel play was on and tried to beat it. Thomson said it was masterfully disguised.
One of these things is not like the other.
Thomson also said that players are told to pull back if they see the wheel play. So, if he saw it, should Stott have pulled back and slapped away at it?
If so, then it's on the player some, too. But really, this was a decision borne out of conservatism.
They had three cracks at it.
Almost any kind of contact would have gotten Castellanos to third - especially with the middle wide open.
Instead, the bunt happened. Max Muncy fielded it and turned and fired to Mookie Betts at third to get Castellanos.
Hearing Freddie Freeman describe how the wheel play the Dodgers ran in the ninth inning came together is a great listen.
The play was Mookie Betts' idea during the pitching change.pic.twitter.com/2Vfl1HXIdj
"There's things that you do in spring training that never come throughout the regular season," Freeman said, referring to the wheel play. "We were talking about doing a wheel play a couple weeks ago in certain situations, so that's been on our mind to bring that out, and that was the perfect time to do it."
With Stott on first and one out, Bader singled to left, but was barely jogging to first base. Stott had to stop at second. Wilson replaced Bader, but was forced at second when Kepler grounded into a fielder's choice.
Stott advanced to third. The Dodgers finally turned to Sasaki to face Trea Turner, and Turner grounded out to end the game.
Playing for a tie is going to be the thing that sticks in the craw of most people, because they will argue that you should be playing for the win in that moment.
Under normal conditions, or with a faster runner on base, or if your bench wasn't compromised by injury, you could make a fair argument that a bunt in that spot makes some sense.
But with all of those other things working against you, and being in a spot where you must win the game to save your season, the conservative approach was likely the wrong one to choose.
In Game 1, the decision to send David Robertson out for a second inning doomed the Phillies. In Game 2 it was the poorly timed bunt.
And a decision for Game 3 to start Aaron Nola instead of Ranger Suarez is already one that is being scrutinized and also makes one wonder why if this was the plan, Suarez didn't pitch in relief in either Game 1 or 2?
These games weren't won or lost on these managerial decisions alone. Turner, Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper are a combined 2-for-21 with 11 strikeouts in the two games. Yes, they've walked four times, but if your big money hitters don't hit, you don't win, plain and simple.
But the inflection points in these games have been around moments when a managerial decision was needed, and the path chosen proved wrong each time.
If the Phillies can't make the seemingly impossible climb up the Division Series mountain and win three straight against the Dodgers, it's fair to wonder just how much these managerial decisions will be scrutinized not just publicly, but internally within the organization as well.
