Kirk Herbstreit wrote off the Phillies before they even took the field.
The ESPN College GameDay analyst was calling Thursday night’s Rams-49ers game on Amazon Prime Video when he looked ahead at what Los Angeles has coming up over the next few weeks. That’s when he casually declared the Dodgers were headed to the NLCS.
“What is LA going to do in a few weeks?” Herbstreit said during the broadcast. “They’re going to have the Dodgers probably in the NLCS by then.”
Kirk Herbstreit on Thursday Night Football:
“What is LA going to do in a few weeks? They’re going to have the Dodgers probably in the NLCS by then …”
Bulletin board material for Rob Thomson and the Phillies?
— Paul Casella (@Paul_CasellaMLB) October 3, 2025
That would be fine, except the Dodgers and Phillies haven’t played a single game yet. Their NLDS series starts Saturday.
Herbstreit said “probably,” but the way he casually mentioned it made it sound like the Phillies were already an afterthought.
The Phillies are slight underdogs in this matchup, but they went 95-67 this season and reached the NLCS in 2022 and 2023 before losing to the Mets in last year’s NLDS. They know how to win in October. Philadelphia also went 4-2 against the Dodgers during the regular season. Writing them off before a single pitch gets thrown is the kind of disrespect that teams love to use as motivation.
Herbstreit is a die-hard Cincinnati Reds fan who’s been watching baseball his entire life. He idolized Dave Concepcion growing up and was featured prominently in the documentary about longtime Reds broadcaster Marty Brennaman. The guy knows baseball.
He also knows what the Dodgers can do in October. His Reds were the only team to get swept in this year’s Wild Card round, losing both games to Los Angeles. Buster Olney revealed after the series that Cincinnati’s pitching staff was tipping pitches throughout the two games, which explained why the Dodgers racked up 18 runs against a rotation that was solid all season.
Maybe that’s why Herbstreit sounds so confident about the Dodgers advancing. He watched them dismantle his team with relative ease.
Herbstreit has tried to stay neutral throughout his broadcasting career, especially when it comes to Ohio State. He takes pride in his objectivity and has repeatedly said he flips a switch during games to avoid showing favoritism. However, this Dodgers comment suggests he’s already decided how this series will play out.
Whether the Phillies heard it or cared is another question. They probably have bigger concerns than what Kirk Herbstreit said during an NFL game. However, if you’re looking for bulletin board material heading into a playoff series, having one of the most prominent voices in sports act like your opponent has already won would certainly qualify.