The Chicago White Sox traded for Craig Kimbrel at the trade deadline in 2021. Fans will always remember him because he was terrible for a team that won 93 games and a division title. It would have been nice if it worked out because they could have won more games but he wasn’t good at all.
After a brief stint with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2022, he found his way over to the Philadelphia Phillies. Obviously, going to the defending National League champions is not a bad idea. The Phillies did turn out to be incredible once again in 2023.
Now, they are in the NLCS. They won both of the first two games in Philly with relative ease. It honestly looked like they were going to end up sweeping as the Arizona Diamondbacks just couldn’t get anything done. Baseball is never predictable though and we learned it in this series.
In the 9th inning of game three on Thursday, Craig Kimbrel entered a tie game (1-1). He allowed a walk-off hit go Ketel Marte and the Diamondbacks took their first game of the series. All of a sudden, they were back in it. Kimbrel looked terrible as he has in big games for a while now.
The Chicago White Sox didn't have much better luck with Craig Kimbrel.
So you’d think there was a 0% chance Kimbrel would go in game 4 after his previous night. Well, the Phillies made a terrible mistake and used him once again. It would be fine for them to go back to him in a different situation later but the very next day? That’s insanity.
Kimbrel allowed, with a lead, allowed a two-run home run to Alek Thomas. It wasn’t a walk-off this time as this was in the 8th inning but it still ended up being the game-losing play for the Phillies. It was stunning that they brought him in but the result is absolutely stunning. Everyone watching felt that it was possible for that to happen and it did.
Now, the series is tied at two and could go either way when it should be a 3-1 series lead for the Phillies. Their bullpen isn’t very strong right now but anyone would have had a better chance than Kimbrel on no rest. It was just insane to see it unfold like this.
Game five will unfold on Saturday night in Arizona. We will see who has it in them to take a 3-2 series lead and take control before going back to Philadelphia. This has been a great series it is just wild that they went back to Kimbrel again. White Sox fans, of all people, could have told you that was a horrific idea.