PHILADELPHIA − There it was, 34 minutes into the 55-minute marathon press conference that Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski held to explain a fourth straight postseason exit without a World Series championship.

This time, the Phillies' season ended at the hands of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLDS.

Dombrowski had already gone on about how his team went "toe to toe" against the Dodgers and their vaunted pitching staff, and how a bad break here and there − a missed third strike that Dombrowski said the umpire "immediately apologized for;" not getting a bunt down in Game 2; Orion Kerkering throwing to the wrong base in the 11th inning to end the series − could have made the difference.

"We're close to them," Dombrowski said about the Dodgers. "We battled them.

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