Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images
This big blast from Bryson Stott deserves to be seen from every angle
The sights and sounds of playoff baseball can be incredible.
Philadelphia Phillies fans know this for certain.
The Phillies are on their way to the NLDS thanks to a two-game sweep of the Miami Marlins in the National League Wild-Card Round. After beating the Marlins 4-1 in Game 1 on Tuesday night, the Phillies set the Marlins packing with a 7-1 win on Wednesday night.
Now a much-anticipated clash with their division rivals, the Atlanta Braves, awaits.
The big moment came in the bottom of the sixth. With the Phillies already leading 3-0, infielder Bryson Stott strode to the plate with the bases loaded and one out. What happened next might be a blur for him, but it is a moment that Phillies fans — both watching on television and certainly those in the stands — will never forget:
Stott turned on a 95-mph fastball from Andrew Nardi, launching a rocket to the bleachers in right-center field. The grand slam broke the game open, sending Citizens Bank Park into an absolute frenzy, with the vast majority of fans starting to dream about another deep playoff run.
After launching his blast, Stott slowly walked down the first-base line, before spiking his bat and screaming towards the Phillies’ dugout:
What did he say? Well, Stott does not quite remember. “I was running around the bases in kind of a blackout,” Stott said. “I don’t know, I have to go back and watch it.”
An even better view of the sequence comes from this user on X, who isolated the ballpark audio to provide viewers the full experience:
Absolutely incredible scenes.
Up next for the Phillies? A fascinating NLDS with the Atlanta Braves, the top seed in the National League. Atlanta won 8-of-13 games between the two teams this year, including winning three-of-four in Philadelphia during a mid-September series.
But in their last series of the season, a three-game set later that month, the Phillies took two of the three games in Atlanta.
“It’s going to be an electric series and we can’t wait,” said Phillies slugger Bryce Harper.
Neither can we.