The Dodgers can talk all they want about matchups, momentum and October confidence. The uncomfortable truth is simpler than that: if there is one team they would rather not see when the NLDS schedule 2026 arrives, it is the Philadelphia Phillies.
That is not a panic move, either. It is just the blunt reality of a best-of-five series, where one bad night can tilt the whole bracket and one hot arm can wreck a season’s worth of good work. Mirjam Swanson said the San Diego Padres would be the more awkward rival in one sense, because weird stuff happens with rivalries. But she also made the bigger point: the NLDS is the real problem, because less room to breathe means more chances to get burned.
Why the NLDS format is the real issue
Bill Plaschke was even more direct. For him, the one team the Dodgers should avoid is the Phillies. That is not because Philadelphia is unbeatable, but because the margin for error shrinks brutally in October. A full season can absorb a bad week. A best-of-five cannot.
Last year, the Phillies lost the NLDS to the Dodgers, which only sharpens the stakes here. If this matchup comes back around, history does not guarantee anything. It merely guarantees pressure. And pressure in a short series has a nasty habit of exposing every crack, every reliever wobble and every quiet night from the stars.
The Dodgers do have reasons for optimism. On Thursday, Evan Phillips hit 100 mph for the first time this season and struck out Jackson Merrill looking in the Dodgers' loss, a reminder that October can still turn on the sharp edge of a bullpen arm. Plaschke pointed to relief help in the same conversation, naming Roki Sasaki among the arms he trusts. That matters, because in a best-of-five, a postseason series can become a bullpen test long before it becomes a beauty contest.
But that is exactly why the NLDS schedule 2026 is so unforgiving. It does not invite the Dodgers to settle in. It demands precision immediately. If the Phillies are waiting, the Dodgers will not get the luxury of a warm-up act. They will have to be sharp from the first pitch, because October does not care about reputation, and it certainly does not care about comfort.
Tommy Lasorda once drew a clean line between those who make it happen, those who watch it happen and those who wonder what happened. The Dodgers know which side they want to be on. The problem is that the NLDS is built to make teams wonder very quickly if they are not ready.
