Sep 15, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; designated hitter Kyle Schwarber (12) and the Philadelphia Phillies celebrate after clinching the Nationall League East division title at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images
LOS ANGELES - John Middleton had just finished doing a beer bong with his team.
Pretty sure those words have never been typed in that specific order until just now.
Regardless, Middleton loves everything about his Phillies - his players, his coaches, his staff - everybody. And for the ninth time in the last four years, they were having a booze-spraying clubhouse celebration, this time after clinching the NL East crown for the second straight season in a thrilling 6-5 slugfest over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
When you reach certain checkpoints in a season, the celebrating is important. The work that's put in to get there is one hell of a grind.
But, partying in a clubhouse with the same music and the same routines, can get a little old. So they need to change it up a bit.
This time, Garrett Stubbs had two beer bongs stashed at the back of his locker at Dodger Stadium. That would be the celebration du jour for winning the Division.
It's all about keeping it fresh. Keeping it light. There are new songs on the playlist. There are new rallying cries, like Harrison Bader's "What a gift," to Kyle Schwarber leading a chorus of Cactus Jack impersonators shouting, "Bang, Bang."
Middleton loves being a part of it, so he, too, partook in the beer bong swilling, and looked like a pro while he was at it.
Another angle of John Middleton bonging beers pic.twitter.com/chmDNOMyGD
After he was done, and was standing back and watching the celebration, he wanted to gush about this team - and more specifically, about a guy who, although here in L.A., wasn't actively participating in the celebration.
"Dave's been a master," Middleton told On Pattison while wiping the Miller Lite remnants from his eyes and cheeks. "He's Dave Dombrowski. That's what he is and nobody else is him."
Dombrowski has taken his fair share of criticism during his tenure running the Phillies baseball operations. Some argue he didn't do enough at the 2023 trade deadline to get the Phillies over the hump. Others say he missed the boat almost entirely last offseason. With the exception of adding Jesus Luzardo via trade, which has been a net positive, his other additions - Max Kepler, Jordan Romano and Joe Ross were varying degrees of ugly, with only Kepler being an erstwhile positive contributor.
And there were those who wanted Dombrowski to part with the Phillies top minor league talent to do even more at this year's deadline.
Dave Dombrowski really needs a champagne bath tonight. What a trade deadline.
But when he was hired by Middleton, Dombrowski asked his new boss what he wanted him to do.
"I said, 'You're job is to win today and win tomorrow,'" Middleton said. "'My job is to figure out how to get the money to you so you can win today and tomorrow. You're going to have to balance who you trade and who you don't trade.' What he did at the deadline is a masterclass."
While other teams were adding more than a handful of players to the roster at the deadline and haven't gotten enough bang for their buck, Dombrowski made two trades and one savvy signing.
Harrison Bader has been arguably the most impactful trade acquisition in all of baseball. Jhoan Duran, despite blowing the save on Monday against the Dodgers, is one of the sport's preeminent closers and makes the Phillies bullpen so much better.
As for Robertson, the 40-year old was coaching his son's Little League team when he talked to Dombrowski about signing back with the Phillies. And why?
We need to give David Robertson his flowers
40 years old, comes in mid-season and is in peak form pic.twitter.com/T5hDT2G4Qc
"Look around here, it's a fun group," Robertson said. "I know we're celebrating tonight, but it's almost like a celebration every night when we win. It's a great group of guys. This group that Dombrowski has put together is unbelievable. The core group that has been here for awhile. The deadline pickups. I hope it stays together for awhile because this is a fun place to play and this is where I want to be."
Dombrowski has always been a guy who builds a team through quality, an not necessarily quantity. By that it could be a statistical measure. Or it could be a clubhouse measure as well. How a guy fits into a team dynamic. His selflessness. His supportive nature. Those things matter, too.
It's why the deadline was up for grabs as to who would walk away with the most impactful pieces, and Dombrowski struck gold not once, but with all three additions.
"I can't remember who, but somebody wrote a story grading the trades," Middleton said. "They looked at the WAR the players accumulated for their new teams..."
You mean this story, John?
"You wrote it," he asked?
Yes. Thanks for reading On Pattison, John.
"Well you said it yourself," he said. "we had the best deadline. I remember years and years ago Pat Gillick was talking to me about how when you hire people into this kind of baseball ops job, you want to hire people who come from winning organizations, who've been taught by really good people how to win. You think differently in the offseason if you think you're going to win versus if you don't think you can win.
"Same thing at the deadline. You have to understand when to think that way and know when you shouldn't think that way. Dave's brilliant with that."
In Middleton's mind, it's why there have been nine celebrations, and why, even though the biggest celebration of all has eluded them, he feels, Dombrowski has them set up for about nine more.
He hopes three of them are in the next six weeks.
The Phillies are cooking right now. It's hard to find a team in baseball playing better than they are, at the moment. A World Series title is certainly not out of the question.
But there are a couple tricky steps to traverse first that could trip them up, if they aren't careful.
And if the players decide to do something even crazier with each celebration - maybe a slip and slide on the outfield grass at Citizens Bank Park with beer and champagne substituting for the garden hose to wet the slide - You know who will be joining them.
(Hey Garrett, you're welcome, in advance, for the suggestion.)
Yep, it'll be Middleton. But before he does, he'll be certain to ensure we always remember that Dombrowski was the architect behind all the success..
