After the Phillies won the first two games of the National League Championship Series, and with their dominant 10-run win in Game 2, most would not expect what would happen next.

The Arizona Diamondbacks won four of the last five games, including a 4-2 win Tuesday, en route to the NLCS title and a berth in the World Series.

Just like the Phillies did last year, Arizona won each of their three rounds without home-field advantage. The Diamondbacks won back-to-back games at Citizens Bank Park, a stadium that gave opponents trouble in the playoffs over the last two postseasons.

“I don’t feel stunned, I feel frustrated. We underachieved, I think, as a team. We have to give credit to the Diamondbacks, they played great, but it’s a frustrating way for the season to end just because the potential of this team is so much greater than going home before the World Series,” Phillies’ Nick Castellanos said.

“Last year, when we lost Game 6, we were disappointed because we didn’t win the whole thing, but there was a lot of, ‘All right, well we got here, now we can build off of that.’ Knowing how we feel about this team and that we came up short from what we did the year previous is a disgusting feeling, honestly.”

Give credit to Arizona. This was the Phillies’ series to lose, and that’s what they did. First off, the Phillies led in Game 3, and lost by a walk-off hit. The Phillies led by two runs in Game 4, but Craig Kimbrel blew it, allowing Arizona to win the game. Kimbrel really has not been the same since August, but despite being his recent imperfect outings, it was a playoff game and his job was to save what could have been a series-changing win.

Game 4 was arguably the toughest and most depressing loss this entire series, well aside from Game 7 because it was the elimination game.

Why?

The Phillies had Game 4 in their grasps, and let it slip away. Win that game, and you would have clinched it Game 5. To me, that fourth game really, really stung.

Game 7 was just… typical? The Phillies have been notorious for leaving runners on, and that haunted them. They went 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position, which isn’t new.

But the biggest disappointment, in regard to leaving runners in scoring position, arguably came in the seventh inning. Christian Pache and Kyle Schwarber each walked. The Phillies’ highest paid players in Bryce Harper and Trea Turner failed to come through— in the biggest moment of their seasons. Listen, Harper and Turner are amazing players and will be here for a long time, which I love, but that right there was their moment to put a stamp on their Philadelphia careers, and they failed.

Actually, Harper and Turner were a combined 0 for 8 on Tuesday. The two went 4 for 35 in the final five games of the NLCS. Castellanos, another player with a big contract, went 0 for 23 with 11 strikeouts after homering in his first at-bat of Game 1.

The Phillies stranded bases loaded after taking a 2-1 lead. Johan Rojas, who is just not a good hitter, struck out. We probably all knew that was coming. Sure, Rob Thomson could have made the switch to Jake Cave or Pache. But would one of them made a difference? Both haven’t seen much action since the regular season. In hindsight, sure… make a switch. However, Rojas was in the lineup for his defense, and it was just the fourth inning. Schwarber struck out and Turner grounded out when Brandon Marsh was on second.

The Phillies did not have a hit in their final 17 plate appearances, and just missed too many opportunities.

The Phillies hoped all season to make it back to the World Series, and they should have. I still believe they are a better team than Arizona. The Phillies just did not show that in four of the last five games this series.

Listen, this loss hurts. It will for a while. It was a collapse, to say the least. It would have been amazing to add a third World Series title to the franchise’s history. It stings because this team had the pieces to win, but they fell short just like last year.

And what hurts even more? Having to wait another year to hopefully be back in this situation. And it’s hard to say who will be staying with the team. Aaron Nola and Rhys Hoskins could be gone. Let’s hope Krimbel is gone after his letdown this series. So, there’s just so much to think about for next season, which isn’t far off as pitchers and catchers report in four months!

For now, this was a tough loss, and could possibly be up there with the 1993 or 2009 Phillies or many of the other heartbreaking moments in team history. It was a nightmare ending, for sure, but I still have hope for the future. Only time will tell, but this pain will definitely last for a long time, if not forever knowing the potential that was there. This was another disappointing and devastating season for the way it ended.

But the season was still enjoyable, despite the final result. The Phillies went 65-40 in their final 105 regular-season games to earn the top Wild Card spot. The Phillies knocked off the Braves… again. They provided us with excitement many times over the summer. And playoff baseball is back in Philly! We have been through some bad teams over that last decade-plus. There is no doubt in my mind the Phillies will be in the postseason in 2024, and I like knowing the feeling of a postseason run will return. Will they reach the NLCS or World Series? I don’t know… but hopefully the Phillies can put together another thrilling run.