3 Phillies that deserve more blame for gifting us a terrible World Series

Philadelphia Phillies to blame: Rob Thomson

At the end of the day, the reason we are watching the Rangers face off against the Diamondbacks and not the Phillies is because of Rob Thomson. The Phils manager was excellent all year long, but made some errors in the final two games of their postseason run.

First off, Thomson left Aaron Nola in Game 6 too long, which cost the Phillies a chance to close things out without a winner-take-all matchup. Next, Game 7 did not go according to plan thanks in part to Thomson's similar choice to leave Ranger Suarez in too long. He also did not pinch hit for Johan Rojas with the bases loaded early on despite his struggles at the plate. I wrote about this predicament after Game 7.

"When Thomson finally did pull the trigger and remove Rojas in favor of his replacement, Cristian Pache, the former Braves top prospect earned a walk and spurred another rally, which Trea Turner and Bryce Harper wasted."

In the end, there's no guarantee that the Phillies would have put up a better fight than Arizona, but one can't help but wonder if this World Series would have a little more intrigue had Thomson simply made the right choices.