Jhoan Duran trots in for a save at Citizens Bank Park. (Grace Del Pizzo/On Pattison)
Though the timing of it all still needs to be refined, there were some cool new features — like the Liberty Bell being engulfed in flames — of Jhoan Duran's save entrance in Tuesday's Phillies victory over the Seattle Mariners:
Jhoan Duran’s intro has been upgraded in a big way pic.twitter.com/6EmtyNHKJ9
— Tim Kelly (@TimKellySports) August 20, 2025
The problem? If you weren't at the game, you didn't get to see Duran's entrance. There are a certain number of commercial breaks that need to take place during a telecast, and NBC Sports Philadelphia cut to one — as they normally would — following the bottom of the eighth inning. That left fans at home disgusted, because both NBC Sports Philadelphia and Apple TV+ had previously worked out ways to show Duran's entrance at Citizens Bank Park.
Well, Phillies fans have successfully pressured (bullied?) NBC Sports Philadelphia into showing Duran's entrance on the telecast. Here's what Rob Tornoe of The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote Friday morning on the subject:
NBC Sports Philadelphia has figured out a solution, and plans to showing Duran’s full walk-up routine for evening home games live for the rest of the season. That begins tonight, when the Phillies kick off a three-game series at The Bank against the Washington Nationals.
“We’ve heard from passionate Phillies fans across the region,” the network acknowledged in a statement, noting fans will now “get to experience this phenomenon live and in its entirety.”
Tornoe went on to write that " it's unclear what NBC Sports Philadelphia’s solution is," although truthfully, 95% of fans don't care as long as in the event that Duran is coming on for a save opportunity, it's being telecast.
It's fair to wonder if the Phillies got involved here. The old-school thinking would have been to force fans to come to games to see Duran's entrance. But considering the Phillies are selling out games pretty much every night, there's no reason not to show Duran's entrance on TV. Plus, showing it on TV probably encourages fans who have FOMO to buy tickets.
Since being acquired from the Minnesota Twins, Duran is 6-for-6 in save opportunities with a 0.00 ERA. He's transformed what had previously been one of the worst bullpens in the league, and his ninth-inning entrance has become a spectacle that fans are hopeful they will get lucky enough to see in games they attend.
