Nick Castellanos has been absolutely raking. He was an offensive cornerstone for the Philadelphia Phillies all season long but kicked things up another notch in the postseason. In eight at-bats across two wins against the Marlins, he hit a pair of doubles, scored a run and drove in another.
In 15 NLDS at-bats against the Braves, came up with seven hits and four home runs, including a pair of solo shots in Game 4, providing the margin for the Phillies' 3-1 series-clinching win. Castellanos was remarkably calm in a post-game interview with MLB but also dropped a NSFW line that you just know is going to reverberate through Philadelphia sports, perhaps forever.
"Yeah, I f**k with Philly."
Get prepared to see that phrase on about a million t-shirts in the Philadelphia area. To hear it chanted at every home game as the Phillies take on the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NLCS. For it to become a mantra for their World Series chase, but also to be adopted by the undefeated Eagles looking to power their own Super Bowl run and the Philadelphia Flyers, who won their season opener last night against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The Phillies may be unstoppable if Nick Castellanos keeps hitting like this
Castellanos is in his second season with the Phillies and could be an enormous difference-maker. He hit much better during the regular season than he did last year and has already dwarfed last season's postseason production.
Castellanos didn't hit a single home run across 69 playoff plate appearances in last season's run to the World Series. He had just nine hits total and drove in just seven runs, marks he could surpass with just one more game, having amassed seven hits and 5 RBIs already.
The Phillies offense is absolutely cooking right now and Castellanos is a big reason why — he's a home-run, slogan-generating machine and Philadelphia sports fans may soon need to add a new hero to their pantheon.
