Phillies star addresses being on brink of elimination, possible Game 5 in Philly

The Philadelphia Phillies will enter Wednesday's Game 4 of the National League Division Series at the rival New York Mets one loss away from playoff elimination coming off Tuesday's 7-2 defeat at Citi Field.

Shortly after Game 3 of the best-of-five set, Phillies slugger Nick Castellanos spoke with reporters and warned the Mets about not finishing the job in Queens on Wednesday.

"Instead of just flushing it and forgetting it, I think right now it’s really important to embrace the situation we’re in," Castellanos said after Tuesday's contest, as shared by Bridget Hyland of NJ Advance Media for NJ.com. "If we lose, we’re going home, baseball’s over for us. It’s a great opportunity because if we’re able to scrape out another win here, I know that they do not want to go back to Philly for a Game 5."

Castellanos may be right about the Mets not wanting to travel back to the "City of Brotherly Love" for a series-deciding matchup scheduled to get underway on Friday afternoon. Citizens Bank Park is widely regarded as one of the more intimidating playoff venues for away teams in all of MLB. Additionally, Philadelphia would have ace Zack Wheel er rested and available for that must-win showdown.

As Todd Zolecki of the MLB website pointed out, Wheeler recorded nine strikeouts and an astounding 30 swings and misses over seven scoreless innings in Game 1 of the series back on Saturday. However, the Mets ultimately found success against the Phillies bullpen en route to earning a 6-2 win.

Philadelphia then needed to rally from behind on multiple occasions to beat the Mets 7-6 on Sunday. That victory featured New York closer Edwin Diaz suffering a latest meltdown in an unfriendly ballpark.

"As a group, this is the closest to death as we’re ever gonna get. So in a way, we should feel the most alive," Castellanos added. "We’re only promised [Wednesday] and this is what we’ve worked since spring training for, to have this opportunity. It’s just one more time to show out and leave everything on the field and however the dice is gonna land, it’s gonna land."

Phillies first baseman Bryce Harper previously lamented how he and his teammates "wasted" Wheeler's Game 1 gem. Harper and Co. will now do everything possible to ensure they'll play at Citizens Bank Park again before next spring.