Phillies’ World Series or bust mentality ends in ‘flop’ originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
NEW YORK – The next baseball game at Citizens Bank Park, originally scheduled for Friday afternoon, has been postponed.
Postponed until March 31, 2025. With the first home game of the new season against the Rockies featuring all the usual pomp and circumstance.
But not the raising of another championship pennant or banner.
The Phillies nearly flew streamers up and down Clearwater Beach during spring training, taking out billboards up and down I-95, reminding everyone that they were hell-bent on getting back to the World Series. Two years after participating in the Fall Classic and one season after being one home win away from returning, anything less would be unacceptable.
So what do you call it when you don’t go to the World Series, you don’t go to the National League Championship Series, and you only manage one win against the wild-card Mets in the National League Championship Series?
“Failure,” shortstop Trea Turner said. “I feel like we failed.”
A decisive Game 5 of the National League Division Series, which would have been played in front of a sold-out home crowd with ace Zack Wheeler on the mound, became unnecessary when the Mets completed the dismantling of the team that finished the regular season with the second place. best record in baseball.
Red October officially ended with a 4-1 loss Wednesday night at Citi Field. Once again the offensive was impotent. Once again, going to the bullpen was a baseball version of Russian Roulette, but with cartridges in every chamber. In the four games, the Phillies were outscored 23-12.
“Very disappointing,” manager Rob Thomson said. “They beat us in a short series.”
It is true that in the best of five format anything can happen. But the fact is that this result should not have surprised anyone who has been paying attention. The Mets were one of the best teams in baseball in the second half of the season. The Phillies were 33-34 after mid-July.
“I don’t feel like we’ve played like ourselves the last few weeks,” Turner said. “I don’t have an answer as to why. If he had, we probably would have worked it out. Sometimes things don’t add up. You can look at yourself in the mirror. You can ask a million questions. I know we’re all going to do some version of that. Try to solve it. But it is difficult to find an answer.”
Now there will be organizational meetings. The CEO meetings will be next month. Next month’s winter meetings. Decisions will have to be made – difficult decisions.
Ultimately responsible for finding the answers is president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski. He didn’t speak to the media in the somber postgame clubhouse, but an informal poll of the room thought playing with the same group again was a splendid idea.
“I hope they (keep the core group together),” Turner said. “I think we have the right guys here. On teams I’ve been on in the past that have won consistently, the majority of the team returns. I think you’ve seen it here in the last two or three years. Some guys will come and go or whatever, but I think we have what it takes here and we have to find a way to get it done next year.”
Although the Phillies have exited the playoffs a little early in each of the last two years, Thomson insisted he doesn’t think that’s a trend. “I don’t see us going backwards, no,” he said, adding that he believes the talent is available to move forward in 2025.
“Absolutely,” he said. “Absolutely. There were times during the ups and downs of the season where you get stuck. It happens in the postseason, too. But that doesn’t mean things won’t change next year.”
The reality, however, is that the Phillies made unusually few changes to start this year and took another step back. That’s a baseball problem, but there’s also a perception problem. You know the old saying that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Still, players are crossing their fingers and hoping for the best.
“It’s hard to lose a game like that,” said reliever Carlos Estevez, who gave up the grand slam to Francisco Lindor that sunk the Phillies after Jeff Hoffman loaded the bases. “But at the same time, I know this is a really good group. “It’s not the last time they will be in the playoffs.”
However, there is no guarantee that Estevez will return. He will be a free agent this winter.
Third baseman Alec Bohm said: “Winning a championship is the hardest thing in sports. It will never be easy. This time things didn’t go well for us. But now we have a little extra time in the offseason to clear our heads and then come back and try to do it again.
“I definitely think we’re all strong enough to get back on the horse and get back to where we want to be.”
Now the ball is in Dombrowski’s court.
