2023 National League Championship Series
Team (Wins) Managers Season Arizona Diamondbacks (4) Torey Lovullo 84–78 (.519), GB: 16 Philadelphia Phillies (3) Rob Thomson 90–72 (.556), GB: 14
Dates	October 16–24
MVP	Ketel Marte (Arizona)
Umpires	Lance Barksdale,Andy Fletcher,Tripp Gibson,Adam Hamari,Dan Iassogna (crew chief),Mike Muchlinski,Carlos Torres
Broadcast
Television	TBS/Max
TV announcers	Brian Anderson,Ron Darling,Jeff Francoeur, andMatt Winer
Radio	ESPN
Radio announcers	Jon Sciambi andDoug Glanville
NLDS	Philadelphia Phillies overAtlanta Braves (3–1) Arizona Diamondbacks overLos Angeles Dodgers (3–0)
← 2022 NLCS 2024 →

The2023 National League Championship Series was thebest-of-seven playoff inMajor League Baseball’s (MLB)2023 postseason between the defending National League champion and fourth-seededPhiladelphia Phillies and the sixth-seededArizona Diamondbacks for theNational League (NL) pennant and the right to play in the2023 World Series. The series began on October 16 and Game 7 was played on October 24.TBS/Max televised the games in the U.S.^[1][2]

This was the second time inLCS history, and second year in a row, that twowild card teams faced each other. For the third straight full season, a team with less than 90 winswon the NLCS, as the 84-win Diamondbacks pulled off the upset to defeat Philadelphia in seven games. The Phillies were just the fourth team with home-field advantage to win the first two games of an LCS in the seven game series era (1985-present), but not win the series.^[3][4]

The Diamondbacks would go on to lose in the2023 World Series to theTexas Rangers.

The Arizona Diamondbacks qualified for the postseason as the sixth seedwild card entrant with an 84–78 record. In theWild Card Series, they swept the third-seeded and National League Central division winnerMilwaukee Brewers, and then swept and upset the second-seeded and National League West division winner 100-winLos Angeles Dodgers in theDivision Series to reach the National League Championship Series for the first time since2007.^[5]

The Philadelphia Phillies qualified for the postseason as the fourth seedwild card entrant with a record of 90–72. In theWild Card Series, they swept theMiami Marlins, and then defeated the National League East division winnerAtlanta Braves, who held the best regular season record of 104–58 this season, in the Division Series in four games to return to the NLCS for the second consecutive season.

This series was the first postseason meeting between the Phillies and the Diamondbacks. This was also the second straight year that the two wild card seeds played in the NLCS. Since 2022, when the postseason got expanded, the only lower-seeded League Championship Series played was the 2022 NLCS (between the fifth and sixth seeds).

Philadelphia went 4–3 against Arizona in the regular season, though the two teams last met in June.^[6]

Arizona won the series, 4–3.

This was the first postseason meeting between Arizona and Philadelphia.

Arizona starterZac Gallen was shaken up early by Philadelphia's offense, giving up two solo home runs toKyle Schwarber andBryce Harper in the bottom of the first (Schwarber's on Gallen's very first pitch of the night).Nick Castellanos added on in the second with another solo shot. In the third, Harper singled inTrea Turner to put the Phillies up 4–0. In the fifth,J. T. Realmuto singled in Harper to give the Phillies a five-run lead. The Diamondbacks scored on a two-runGeraldo Perdomo homer to make it 5–2 in the sixth.Alek Thomas then hit a sacrifice fly to scoreChristian Walker to make it 5–3 in the seventh.Craig Kimbrel closed out the win for the Phillies.

In contrast to the relatively close Game 1, Game 2 was a 10–0 blowout in favor of the Phillies.Aaron Nola started for Philadelphia andMerrill Kelly started for Arizona.Trea Turner andKyle Schwarber hit solo home runs off Kelly in the first and third innings, respectively. Schwarber homered again in the sixth, taking Kelly out of the game. Kelly's replacement,Joe Mantiply, gave up a two-run double toJ. T. Realmuto to give the Phillies a five-run lead.Brandon Marsh doubled, scoring Realmuto and making the score 6–0. The Phillies scored four more runs in the seventh inning offRyne Nelson, withAlec Bohm, Realmuto, andNick Castellanos all driving in runs. Nola struck out twelve batters, tossed six shutout innings, and only allowed three hits. With the win, the Phillies took a 2–0 series lead as the series shifted to Arizona.

The first six innings of Game 3 consisted of a scoreless pitcher's duel between Arizona'sBrandon Pfaadt and Philadelphia'sRanger Suárez. Pfaadt was pulled in the sixth after striking outBrandon Marsh, a decision that was heavily booed by fans at Chase Field. Suárez was also pulled in the sixth. The Phillies first scored in the seventh on a wild pitch byRyan Thompson that scoredBryce Harper. Arizona tied the game in their half of the inning whenTommy Pham singled offOrion Kerkering. At that point,Alek Thomas pinch-ran for Pham, and with no outs,Lourdes Gurriel Jr. doubled in Thomas to tie the game at one. Kerkering gave up a single to the next batter,Pavin Smith, and was taken out of the game without recording any outs. His replacement,José Alvarado, gotEmmanuel Rivera to ground out into a double play on the first pitch. Then, Alvarado gotGeraldo Perdomo to ground out, ending the inning. Arizona relieverKevin Ginkel kept the top of the eighth scoreless, and Alvarado did the same for the bottom of the inning. Arizona'sPaul Sewald worked around a Harper walk and stolen base to send the game to the bottom of the ninth, where closerCraig Kimbrel was sent in for the Phillies. Kimbrel gave up a leadoff walk to Gurriel Jr., who then stole second base. Smith then singled to put runners at first and third with no outs.Emmanuel Rivera hit a grounder to shortstopTrea Turner, Gurriel Jr. ran home on contact and was tagged out at the plate byJ. T. Realmuto, for the first out of the inning. Perdomo then drew a walk, loading the bases.Ketel Marte then singled to center field to give the Diamondbacks a walk-off victory. Game 3 broke a 22-year drought, as it was the first time Arizona won an NLCS game since Game 5 in2001.^[14] It also marked the first walk-off postseason win in Diamondbacks history sinceLuis Gonzalez's walk-off single in Game 7 of the2001 World Series.^[15]

In the bottom of the second inning,Christian Walker scored on a single byEmmanuel Rivera to stake the Diamondbacks to an early 1–0 lead. In the third,Gabriel Moreno singled inKetel Marte, the hero of Game 3, to make it 2–0 Arizona.Kyle Schwarber hit a solo homer in the top of the fourth to put the Phillies on the board. The next inning,Brandon Marsh doubled inJ. T. Realmuto to tie the game at two.Alec Bohm hit a two-run single offRyan Thompson in the sixth to give Philadelphia a 4–2 lead. ATrea Turner sac fly gave the Phillies their fifth run of the game. In the bottom of the seventh,Gregory Soto put Diamondbacks runners at first and third and was taken out of the game. His replacement,Orion Kerkering, walkedGabriel Moreno. With the bases loaded, Kerkering walked Christian Walker, forcing in a run and making it 5–3. Kerkering limited the damage by gettingPavin Smith to ground out. With Arizona trailing by two runs in the bottom of the eighth, Philadelphia closerCraig Kimbrel gave up a double toLourdes Gurriel Jr. With one out, pinch-hitterAlek Thomas hit a two-run home run into the Chase Field pool to tie the game at five. After striking out Perdomo, Kimbrel gave up a single to Marte and hitCorbin Carroll with a pitch. Next up was Gabriel Moreno, who singled and scored Marte, giving the Diamondbacks a 6–5 lead.Paul Sewald successfully closed out the game for Arizona, tying the series at two games apiece.

Game 5 featured a pitching rematch of Game 1 betweenZac Gallen for the Diamondbacks andZack Wheeler for the Phillies. In the top of the first,Bryson Stott singled off Gallen to scoreKyle Schwarber to give the Phillies the early lead. Later,Bryce Harper stole home as Stott stole second to give the Phillies a 2–0 lead. In the sixth, Schwarber homered off Gallen to extend the Phillies lead to 3–0; then Harper homered to further extend the Phillies lead to 4–0. In the bottom of the seventh,Alek Thomas hit a home run off Zack Wheeler to put the Diamondbacks on the board cutting their deficit to three. In the top of the eighth,J. T. Realmuto hit a two-run home run offLuis Frías to extend the Phillies lead to 6–1. With the win, the Phillies took a 3–2 edge in the series and returned to Philadelphia needing one more victory to secure their second consecutive World Series appearance and send the Diamondbacks into the off-season.

Game 6 featured a rematch of Game 2 betweenAaron Nola for the Phillies andMerrill Kelly for the Diamondbacks.Tommy Pham andLourdes Gurriel Jr. led off the second inning with back-to-back home runs to take a 2−0 lead.Alek Thomas walked and scored whenEvan Longoria doubled to left center field, giving the Diamondbacks a 3−0 lead. In the home half,Brandon Marsh singled to scoreJ. T. Realmuto to narrow the lead 3−1.Corbin Carroll singled in the fifth inning and would later score on aKetel Marte triple to extend the Diamondback lead to 4−1. Marte tied a Major League record to start a postseason career withMarquis Grissom with 15 straight games with a hit.^[16]Geraldo Perdomo singled offOrion Kerkering to start the seventh inning, followed by a stolen base and would score on a Marte single taking the lead to 5−1.Ryan Thompson,Andrew Saalfrank, andKevin Ginkel pitched scoreless sixth, seventh, and eighth innings to preserve the Diamondbacks lead.Paul Sewald pitched a scoreless ninth inning in a non-save situation to end the game and force a deciding Game 7.

This was the second League Championship Series to reach a winner-take-all Game 7 during the2023 postseason. This was the first Game 7 for the Phillies in franchise history and the Diamondbacks' first Game 7 since the2001 World Series, their second overall when they won their only World Series title in franchise history. This was the fourth time in Major League history both League Championship Series reached a Game 7 in the same postseason with it previously happening in2003,2004, and2020.^[17]

Game 7 featured a pitching rematch of Game 3 betweenBrandon Pfaadt of the Diamondbacks andRanger Suárez of the Phillies. The Diamondbacks scored first whenCorbin Carroll scored on a force out. In the bottom of the second,Alec Bohm hit a solo home run to tie the game at one apiece. In the bottom of the fourth,Bryson Stott doubled home Bohm to give the Phillies a one-run lead. In the top of the fifth,Corbin Carroll’s RBI single scoredEmmanuel Rivera tying the game at two apiece. Later in the same inning,Gabriel Moreno's RBI single scored Carroll to give the Diamondbacks a 3−2 lead. In the top of the seventh, Carroll's sacrifice fly scoredGeraldo Perdomo to make it 4−2. The Phillies threatened with two runners on and one out in the bottom of that inning, butKevin Ginkel retiredTrea Turner andBryce Harper on flyouts to end the inning. Ginkel then pitched a perfect eighth inning, andPaul Sewald finished with a perfect ninth inning to send the Diamondbacks to their first World Series since winning it all in 2001.

2023 NLCS(4–3):Arizona Diamondbacks beatPhiladelphia Phillies

ESPN andSirius XM sports radio personalityChris "Maddog" Russo claimed that if the 84-win D-backs came back from a 3-2 series deficit on the road against the Phillies, he would retire. Word got back to Arizona's managerTorey Lovullo and the team used it as extra motivated. During their clubhouse celebration after the Game 7 win, the team chanted "Mad Dog," while smoking cigars and popping champagne.^[19] Russo did not end up retiring, despite his on-air promise.^[20] Instead, he andHoward Stern negotiated an alternate punishment: Russo would wear a Diamondbacks bikini with a sign that says "I'm a liar and a dope" and make a donation to the team's foundation.^[21]

The Phillies soundly defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks in the first two games of this National League Championship Series, only to drop four of the next five. They had late leads in Games 3 and 4. They led Game 7, a 4-2 loss, by a run in the fifth inning. In the end, from players to media, many felt like the Phillies gave the series away.^[22][23][24] The Phillies were the first NL team with home-field to win the first two games of an NLCS and drop the series since the Dodgers did so against Cardinals in1985. Additionally, they were the just the fifth team to fail to win the pennant after winning the first two games of a seven game series (1985-present), joining the2020 Braves (series was played at a neutral site due to theCOVID-19 pandemic),2004 Yankees (who won their first three games),1985 Dodgers, and1985 Blue Jays.^[25]

Immediately following their Game 7 loss,Tyler Kepner,The Athletic national baseball writer and a Phillies fan growing up, named it the Phillies' fifth most devastating loss in their 134-year history, while some Phillies' fans called it the franchise's worst.^[26][27] For the most part, penned at the reason for the Phillies upset defeat was the bullpen and a vanishing offense, which was common theme for this era of Phillies teams.^[28] It was a major concern for the2022 pennant-winning Phillies that saw them lose three straight World Series games after being up 2-1 (which included beingno-hit in Game 4) and it was a problem in subsequent seasons. In2024, the Phillies would suffer another upset series loss to theirrival, theNew York Mets, in theNational League Division Series. In the series against the Mets, the bullpen blew two late-game leads, and the offense batted just .186 for the entire series.^[29][30] A year later, they lost to theDodgers in thesame round despite holding home-field advantage, in a series that saw them make numerous mental errors.^[31]

With the series win, the Diamondbacks extended theMilwaukee Brewers Reverse World Series curse, which was baseball-related superstition that saw every team the Milwaukee Brewers lost to in the postseason would at least make it to the World Series.^[32] The Diamondbacks had previously defeated the Brewers in theWild Card round in two games. The curse was seemingly broken when theNew York Mets, who beat the Brewers in the2024 Wild Card round, were themselves defeated by theLos Angeles Dodgers in the2024 National League Championship Series, thus not qualifying for the World Series.

The 2023 Diamondbacks’ 84 wins were the fewest of any pennant winner since the2006 St. Louis Cardinals, whowon the pennant and eventually theWorld Series with only 83 wins, and they became the fourth team to win a league pennant with 85 or fewer wins (1973 Mets,1987 Twins, 2006 Cardinals).^[33]

Arizona would end up losing theWorld Series to theTexas Rangers in five games. NLCS MVPKetel Marte would extend his postseason hit streak to 20 games in the World Series before having it end in Game 5. It was the longest hit streak in postseason history by 3 games; the previous high of 17 was accomplished byHank Bauer (1956-58),Derek Jeter (2003-04) andManny Ramirez (2003-04).^[34]

• 2023 American League Championship Series

• Major League Baseball postseason schedule

• 2023 Major League Baseball season
• National League Championship Series
• October 2023 sports events in the United States
• Arizona Diamondbacks postseason
• Philadelphia Phillies postseason
• 2023 in Philadelphia
• 2023 in sports in Pennsylvania

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