Nick Castellanos coming up clutch brings back memories of his summer with the Cubs

Baseball fans can't have asked for more from the first two games of the NLDS between the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets. After the Mets rallied against the Phillies bullpen in Game 1, erasing a gem from Zack Wheeler, Philadelphia came out on top in Sunday night's wild affair, capped with a Nick Castellanos walk-off base hit in the bottom of the ninth to send Citizens Bank Park into a frenzy.

Watching Castellanos being mobbed by his teammates, including Kyle Schwarber, had Chicago Cubs fans deep in their feelings more than five years after his brief stint on the North Side drew to a close.

Castellanos, who was booed early in the game by the home faithful, combined with Bryce Harper in the sixth to go back-to-back, pulling the Phillies within one at 3-2. The Philadelphia offense, to that point, had looked like a shadow of the team that ranked third in the National League in home runs and OPS during the regular season.

It's been far from a smooth ride for Castellanos in Philly this year. He got off to a brutal start, batting below .200 through mid-May before turning his season around, finishing the year at a 106 OPS+ with 23 home runs and 86 RBI as one of four players in the league to play in all 162 games in the regular season.

To struggle as badly as he did early on and still not miss a single game is a perfect embodiment of why Cubs fans fell in love with Castellanos back in 2019 when the Cubs acquired him from Detroit just minutes to spare at the trade deadline. What did he do from there? Well, he was one of the best offensive players in the league down the stretch, posting a 1.002 OPS in 51 games with Chicago - setting himself up for a payday heading into free agency that winter.

But instead of sticking around for the long haul, like all the good ones who steal our hearts, he left - joining the division-rival Cincinnati Reds for two seasons before opting out and heading to the Phillies ahead of the 2022 season. Now, on baseball's biggest stage, Castellanos continues to deliver and battle adversity - and there's a whole bunch of Cubs fans here in Chicago still rooting for him every step of the way.