NEW YORK – The two biggest reasons the Phillies fell behind in the NLDS were the two biggest reasons they lost the NLDS and went home earlier than they ever expected.

The offense didn’t show up and the relievers the Phillies relied on most throughout the regular season were completely ineffective.

Like Game 1, the Phillies took a one-point lead but failed to expand it. They kept the Mets in it by pushing just one over when they had runners on second and third base with one out in the top of the fourth and stranding two runners with one out in the sixth.

All night, all series long, the Phillies just needed breathing room. They spent less than half an inning of the NLDS with several runs ahead.

Despite their slim lead in the middle innings Wednesday night, the Phillies never seemed to be in control of Game 4. The Mets’ chances against Ranger Suarez were plentiful through the first three innings, but they went 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position until the game. in the bottom of the sixth inning, when they loaded the bases for the third time and cleared them on Francisco Lindor’s grand slam off Carlos Estevez.

Three of the runs in the 4-1 loss came from Jeff Hoffman, who had a 1.65 ERA in the final weekend of the regular season before allowing 10 runs in his final 2⅓ innings. He took the losses in Games 1 and 4.

Estevez did what the Phillies told him to do in the regular season with a 2.57 ERA, but he too ran out of gas at the end and struggled to miss bats. Lindor’s game-changing slam came on the fourth pitch Estevez threw.

All told, the Phillies’ bullpen allowed 17 runs in 12⅔ innings in the series.

As poorly as it performed, the offense was even worse. The Phillies scored two runs before the sixth inning in the NLDS – two runs in 20 innings. One was Kyle Schwarber’s leadoff homer in Game 1. The other scored on an error by Mets third baseman Mark Vientos in the fourth inning of Game 4.

The Phillies sent the tying run to the plate in the ninth inning, with no one out after back-to-back walks against closer Edwin Diaz, but Kody Clemens struck out, Brandon Marsh flied out and Schwarber went down swinging to win the game and to end the season.

There isn’t a specific hitter to choose from, as the Phils came up short across the lineup. JT Realmuto was hitless in the NLDS. Alec Bohm was benched in Game 2 and went 1-for-13 with no RBI. Trea Turner had three hits and walked twice, but had no extra base hits. The Phillies’ 6 through 9 hitters were a combined 4-for-52.

Now they are going home for the winter. This year was supposed to be different. The Phillies crashed the playoff party and stormed through in 2022 and then were even better in 2023, leading teams through their first eight playoff games until a drastic correction occurred in the NLCS, largely in the form of their own over-aggressiveness.

The team with 95 wins this season was the best of the three, the deepest and most talented roster. It’s reminiscent of 2011, when the Phillies assembled the best collection of talent during that five-year stretch, only to be outplayed and upset by the Cardinals in the NLDS.

The Phillies looked like the best team in baseball throughout the first half, with a 62-34 score and a franchise-record eight players in the All-Star Game. But what they did in the second half, playing at a .500 level, proved more indicative of the team they turned out to be.

Zack Wheeler had another Cy Young caliber season. He, Aaron Nola and Cristopher Sanchez made every start. Harper, Schwarber and Nick Castellanos each played 145 games. Players’ primes don’t last forever and this is another wasted year.

Many of their players will remain Phillies in 2025, but this particular cast of characters appears to have run its course.