Following Texas, Philadelphia also won two games in a row… The World Series is just around the corner

Schwarber multi-home run… Arizona complete loss
PO last-minute wild card teams take a huge leap forward

The momentum of the wild card teams on the last train of the major league postseason is unusual. Following the Texas Rangers, the Philadelphia Phillies have won two consecutive championship series games and are on the verge of advancing to the World Series without any major crisis.

Philadelphia won 10-0 in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series (NLCS) against the Arizona Diamondbacks held at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, USA on the 18th 안전놀이터(Korean time). Philadelphia, which won two games in a row in the best-of-seven series, raised its probability of advancing to the World Series to 84%.

The strength of the batting line was different. Philadelphia hitters showed off their power by recording three solo shots against Arizona starter Merrill Kelly, the protagonist of the KBO League’s ‘reverse export myth’. In particular, number one hitter Kyle Schwarber, whose big league career slugging percentage is close to .500, hit multiple home runs.

Kelly, who allowed Schwarber’s third solo home run of the day in the 6th inning, came down the mound shaking, but Philadelphia did not rest. He pounded the team and scored 3 more runs in the 6th inning and 4 more runs in the 7th. The mound did not even give room for a counterattack. Starting pitcher Aaron Nola pitched 6 scoreless innings, and the relief pitchers also cleanly deleted the remaining 3 innings.

With Philadelphia’s victory that day, the ‘wild card counterattack’ that dominated this year’s postseason continued. Of the four teams in the two major league championship series, three are wild cards. The Houston Astros of the American League West Division, the only team to win the division championship, were stuck with 0 wins and 2 losses, just like Arizona.

For Houston, the loss the previous day was fatal. What was significant was that starter Framber Valdez collapsed, allowing 5 runs in 2⅔ innings, including 4 in the first inning. After that, they squeezed in one point at a time to get to 4 to 5, but they were never able to tie the game.

Game 3 of the American League Championship Series (ALCS) between Texas and Houston will resume on the 19th.