The champagne corks popped like fireworks over Dodger Stadium on October 9, 2025, as the Los Angeles Dodgers etched another chapter in their October saga. In a heart-stopping 2-1 marathon that stretched to the 11th inning of Game 4, the Dodgers dispatched the Philadelphia Phillies, clinching the National League Division Series 3-1 and storming into the NLCS. It wasn’t pretty—Orion Kerkering’s errant throw to the plate allowed the tying run to score, paving the way for Andy Pages’ game-winning single—but it was vintage Dodgers: resilient, relentless, and now, according to a chorus of MLB commentators, primed for a historic repeat as World Series champions. “This team’s built for dynasties,” ESPN’s Jeff Passan declared on the postgame broadcast, his voice cutting through the roar. “Beating the Phillies? That’s the wake-up call. The NLCS is just a tune-up for another parade down Figueroa Street.”

From the jump, the NLDS felt like a heavyweight title fight, pitting the defending champs against the NL’s best regular-season squad. The Phillies, with their 96-win blitz through the East, entered as co-favorites alongside L.A., boasting a rotation that could make pitchers weep and a lineup headlined by Bryce Harper’s brooding brilliance. But the Dodgers, flush with $1 billion in offseason wizardry—Shohei Ohtani’s unicorn magic, Roki Sasaki’s unhittable splitter, Blake Snell’s midseason rental—absorbed early punches. They dropped Game 3 in a 8-2 Phillies rout, Schwarber’s moonshot off Yoshinobu Yamamoto still stinging like a bad hangover. Yet L.A. rebounded in Game 4, their bullpen—maligned all season—summoning extra-inning sorcery. Sasaki, the 23-year-old Japanese import, struck out the side in the 10th, while Pages, the rookie sparkplug, delivered the dagger with a bases-loaded poke up the middle. “That’s why we play the games,” Dodgers skipper Dave Roberts grinned in the spray-soaked clubhouse. “Philly’s tough, but we’re tougher.”

Commentators, who had split hairs on the series matchup pregame, coalesced in a blue wave of optimism post-victory. USA TODAY’s Bob Nightengale, a Dodgers skeptic earlier in the week, flipped the script on his podcast: “I picked Philly in five—my bad. But this? This confirms it: L.A.’s the team to beat for the repeat. Their depth is obscene; Ohtani’s slump ends now, and that rotation—Sánchez, Glasnow, Sasaki—could three-peat the Fall Classic single-handedly.” Nightengale wasn’t alone. CBS Sports’ R.J. Anderson, in a rapid-fire tweetstorm, forecasted: “Dodgers over Phillies seals the NL. Then NLCS win over whoever—Brewers? Cubs?—and boom, World Series path clears. Last repeat was 2000 Yankees; L.A.’s got the juice.” Odds shifted like sand in the wind: DraftKings slashed Dodgers’ World Series futures from +375 to +195 overnight, vaulting them past the surging Toronto Blue Jays (+360) and a shell-shocked Phillies (+950).

The chorus swelled on ESPN’s Baseball Tonight, where a panel of grizzled voices dissected the wreckage. “Especially if they advance to the NLCS—and they will—this is dynasty Dodgers reloaded,” host Karl Ravech proclaimed, flanked by Tim Kurkjian and Buster Olney. Kurkjian, the stats savant, leaned into the numbers: “Philly outscored them 14-10 across the series, but L.A. won the moments. Their .987 fielding percentage in clutch spots? Elite. And with Freeman healthy, Betts locked in—repeat’s not a prediction; it’s probability.” Olney, ever the storyteller, painted the bigger canvas: “Think about it: 2024, they topple the Yankees in five. Now, Phillies down? The NL’s wide open—Mets? No, Brewers or Cubs next, but neither matches this firepower. Roberts’ bullpen tweaks paid off; they’re built for October’s grind.” The panel’s consensus pick: Dodgers in six over the Mariners in the Fall Classic, a clash of coasts that’d shatter ratings records.

Not every voice sang in unison—Philly bias lingered like Citizens Bank Park fog. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, a Northeast neutral, hedged: “Dodgers are favorites, sure, after this gut-punch series. But NLCS? Brewers’ small-ball could trip ’em; Milwaukee went 10-2 against L.A. and Philly combined this year.” Yet even he conceded the momentum: “If they navigate that—and odds say yes—the World Series feels inevitable. Ohtani’s two-way threat alone tilts the scales.” Yahoo Sports’ Hannah Keyser echoed the thrill: “Philly’s heartbreak is L.A.’s launchpad. Repeat champs since the century’s turn? Dodgers are scripting history, one walk-off at a time.”

For the vanquished, the sting was Shakespearean. Rob Thomson’s Phillies, third straight October flameout after 2022’s World Series tease, huddled in a visitors’ locker room thick with what-ifs. Harper, 3-for-24 in the series, vowed offseason fire: “We matched ’em punch for punch. Lost on a hop—bull. But yeah, they’re loaded. Respect.” Realmuto, the iron man behind the dish, added: “Commentators calling repeat? Let ’em talk. Fuels our fire for ’26.” Kerkering, the error’s tragic architect, absorbed the blame like a sponge, but teammates lifted him: “Kid’s gold; one throw doesn’t define us,” Turner insisted.

As the Dodgers jet east for an NLCS opener Friday—likely against the Brewers, who edged the Cubs 3-2 in their do-or-die—the league buzzes with validation. FOX Sports’ Alex Stumpf nailed it: “Sweeping past Philly? That’s the green light. L.A.’s not just defending; they’re dominating.” Sasaki, sipping water amid the melee, flashed that shy grin: “More to do.” Ohtani, 1-for-17 no more, hoisted the NLDS trophy like a promise. Betts, the sage shortstop, summed the sentiment: “Path’s clear. Time to run it back.”

In baseball’s grand theater, where empires rise on wild throws and fall on foul tips, the Dodgers stand tall. Commentators’ prophecies—once whispers—now roar: repeat champions, etched in October gold. The NLCS beckons, but the World Series? That’s destiny calling collect from Chavez Ravine. Will L.A. answer? The echoes from Game 4 say yes—loudly, defiantly, dynastically.