3 Phillies who can’t afford to cool off for World Series run

2. Nick Castellanos

The Phillies' lineup exists in multiple sectors. There's the top-three gauntlet of Schwarber, Turner, and Harper. Then, the middle group of Alex Bohm, Bryson Stott, and J.T. Realmuto. The faults are few and far between with those groups. Where the Phillies have the potential to really hit a wall is the bottom of the lineup (shocking, I know).

Right now, it's hard to fault Brandon Marsh's performance in the eight spot. He has a hit in every game of the D-Backs series. In the nine spot, however, is rookie Johan Rojas. To put it bluntly, he's a walking sigh of relief for the opposing pitcher. Rojas seldom gets a hit, and when he does it's hardly more than a simple ground ball that squeaks through a crack in the infield.

The real centerpiece of the bottom-three, of course, is Nick Castellanos. There was a fan movement to move Casty into the cleanup spot after his miraculous NLDS performance, but Rob Thomson opted for consistency and kept Castellanos in the seven spot. It worked in Game 1 of the NLCS; Castellanos hit his fifth home run in a three-game span.

In the games since, however, the smoke has gradually lifted from Castallenos' bat. He went 0-for-2 with a walk in Game 2 before going 0-for-3 with three K's in Game 3. That simply won't do. The Phillies can survive a return to earth for Casty — he won't hit multiple homers every night, that was never sustainable — but he can't become a regular out. If Brandon Marsh is the anchor of the Phillies' later lineup, it could spell trouble.