Why not play an extra inning in the final game of the season? The Phillies got a walk-off sacrifice fly from Nick Castellanos in the bottom of the 10th to get a 2-1 win over the Minnesota Twins to finish off the regular season. It also marked some team and personal milestones for the Phillies and their players as they prep for the postseason and Red October!

Castellanos has had a difficult time adjusting to his modified role with the Phillies, but he came through in the 10th, kind of reminding the team and fans that he still has some value to the organization. The sac fly made Orion Kerkering (8-4, 3.30) the winning pitcher after he struck out the side in the top of the 10th, stranding the ghost runner at second. The outing may have given Kerkering, who has struggled of late, some confidence that he can carry into the postseason.

Cristopher Sanchez got the start and went over the 200 innings pitched mark for the first time in his career finishing with 202 innings, the second most in the NL. Manager Rob Thomson pulled him with two outs in the sixth inning for him to walk off the field to a standing ovation from the crowd of 42,637 at Citizens Bank Park. Sanchez gave up just two hits and did not walk a batter while striking out eight to finish with 212 strikeouts, fifth best in the NL. Lou Trivino gave up the only run the Twins scored when he issued a two out walk and then an RBI double to Ryan Jeffers to finish the sixth inning.

Taijuan Walker, Tanner Banks, David Robertson, and Kerkering all pitched a shutout inning.

The Phillies first run came on a home run by Max Kepler, his 18th, to tie the game in the bottom of the eighth.

Individual milestones

Trea Turner was activated from the IL prior to the game and went 0-for-2 to finish with a .304 average to win the National League batting title. Nico Hoerner of the Cubs finished second with a .297 average, leaving Turner as the only NL hitter with a qualifying number of plate appearances to finish with an average above .300 in 2025. The last Phillies player to win the batting title in the NL was Richie Ashburn in 1958. Turner’s injury cost him both the NL and MLB lead in hits as he finished with 179, second to the Padres Luis Arraez (181). The major league leader in hits was Kansas City’s Bobby Witt Jr., who finished with 184 hits. It likely cost him the stolen base championship as well as he finished with 36 steals while Pittsburgh’s O’Neill Cruz had 38 and major league leader Jose Caballero finished with 49.

Alec Bohm had a single to finish the season with a nine game hitting streak which carries over to the 2026 season.

Kyle Schwarber went 0-for-3 and finished with 56 home runs, the second most every by a Phillies player. Ryan Howard holds the mark with 58. Schwarber won the NL home run championship for the second time since 2022. Schwarber also won the MLB RBI championship with 132, finished second in the NL (fourth in the majors) with a .563 slugging percentage, second in the NL (fifth in the majors) in OPS at .928 and fourth in the NL (fifth in the majors) with 111 runs scored. Unfortunately, after hitting two home runs back on September 24, Schwarber went 0-for-14 through the end of the season.

Sanchez finishes third in the NL with a 2.50 ERA, Paul Skenes finished at 1.97 for Pittsburgh to be both the NL and MLB ERA champion.

Jesus Luzardo was second in the NL in wins (15) and strikeouts (216).

Jhoan Duran finished fifth in the majors with 32 saves. Carlos Estevez, who saved six games for the Phillies, led the majors with 42 saves for Kansas City.

Team milestones

The Phillies 55 wins this season were the most ever at Citizens Bank Park, breaking last year’s record of 54 wins. The overall record is 60 wins set at Veterans Stadium in 1977. The Phillies won a team record 35 series this season as well, including winning the last 10 series at Citizens Bank Park.

Coming attractions…

The Reds travel to Los Angeles to face the Dodgers in the National League Wild Card Series, a best-of-three series with all games in L.A. and will be played Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The winner comes to Philadelphia to open the NLDS on Saturday with the game times still to be determined.

In case you want to save some dates, the NLCS begins Monday October 13th and the World Series opens on October 24th. Should the Brewers or Phillies reach the World Series, they would have home field advantage.