On Sunday morning, back when FanGraphs gave them an 87% chance to reach the playoffs, the Phillies hoped they would play well enough to skip ace Aaron Nola’s final regular-season start and line him up for the postseason. Now that Philadelphia lost both games of Tuesday’s doubleheader against the Nationals, the Phillies will be lucky if Nola even has a chance to pitch them into October.
If you’ve watched the team at all this year, you barely need the outline: The offense mustered three hits in Game 1. It recovered in Game 2, only to watch a reliever—this time Brandon Workman, but it could have been anyone—leave a cutter up to Washington rookie DH Yadiel Hernández.