Coming into the National League Championship Series (NLCS) against the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Philadelphia Phillies were the head and shoulder favorites to, at the very least, win the pennant and represent the NL in the World Series. However, after last night's Game 7, that proved not to be true.
The Phillies were stunned, losing their last two games at home in the comfort of Citizens Bank Park, which had been known as a safe haven for the ballclub and had become an October horror house for opponents who dared to enter. Yet, the Diamondbacks beat the Phillies in front of all their Red October faithful in Game 6 and Game 7, allowing them only three runs to their own nine.
The Phillies had been a team that seemed predestined, going back to last season when they made a valiant run as the last team to narrowly make their way into the playoffs, causing upsets all the way up until they met the Houston Astros in the World Series. Then they met a team similar to their own fate in this year's postseason in the Diamondbacks, who found the same bit of formula — a concoction of grit, grind, and good old-fashioned red-hot momentum — to defy expectations and make their way into the Fall Classic.
The Phillies were built for October baseball and, even more so, transformed into it as the MLB Playoffs approached. Even pundits like Derek Jeter were calling for the Phillies to dismiss their NL East rival, and league-leading team in wins, the Atlanta Braves, in the NLDS, which proved to be true in a matter of four games. And then most said immediately after that the Braves were the most disappointing of teams not to make the World Series.
While it's true that the Braves, with 104 wins, were a massive disappointment for not even making it past the NLDS, or that not a single division winner or 100-game winner is making it to the World Series, the Phillies are the most disappointing team in this year's postseason now.
The Phillies beat the Braves, the best team in baseball
This goes back to the Braves, first and foremost. When the Phillies beat the Braves decisively and overpowered them at their own game, it put Philadelphia, spearheaded by Bryce Harper, at the center of attention in the baseball world. Not only because of their uber-talented team but also because the MLB had few other compelling narratives.
When the Los Angeles Dodgers, with all their Hollywood glamour, were swept by the Diamondbacks in their division series, it left a void. Who else could the media shine upon that seemed deserving of the spotlight? The Astros? Unless they're cheating, not even their accomplishment of a seventh straight ALCS appearance was headline-worthy enough. The Texas Rangers? It's taken Creed to take them “higher.” And the Diamondbacks certainly weren't wowing anybody, not even their own fans, who were all but giving away their NLCS tickets after going down 0-2 to start the series.
The Phillies, led by Bryce Harper, were the story. Even Colin Cowherd, who typically shies away from baseball talk these days, was all over the Phillies, noting they and the atmosphere of Citizens Bank Park were the closest thing to the New York Yankees and Yankee Stadium in decades.
The Phillies were fun
Baseball, honestly, needs more teams like the Phillies, full of personality and swagger. It needs guys like Harper who will stare down their opponent who trash-talked them in the locker room just days before as they round second base after blasting a 400-plus-foot homer. It needs teams who will hit 24 home runs in 13 games in the postseason. It needs more crowds showcased like the electric, even eccentric ones in Philadelphia.
Baseball needed the Phillies, a household name within the MLB, to be playing in the World Series. But it doesn't have that. It does, however, have two very good, albeit very different teams in the Texas Rangers and Arizona Diamondbacks, that are deserving of playing for a world championship. But that just doesn't feel like where this story should be going.
The story was written for the Phillies and Bryce Harper
When series play out like the ones in the NLCS do, they often seem unfulfilled. Maybe that's because the media has been too one-sided, and the other team wasn't given enough credit. That's more than plausible. But to see a team as talented as the Phillies were, who everybody said was built to beat the best in the league, get bested by a team without the experience and without the star power, it seems like everything has gone off script.
Really, this all streamlines to Harper. You have this mesmerizing, clutch athlete who, although not from the city of Philadelphia, has taken on every essence of it and embraced it full-throttle. He got the Phillies to the brink last year. And then this year, after coming back from an arm procedure that should have put him out for nearly the whole season, he comes back just a few months into it, switches positions, and puts the team on his back once again to get them back into the postseason.
Then here comes the clutch hitting home runs to defeat their biggest rival in the Braves. So, the Diamondbacks appear to be a mere stepping stone to get back to where he and the Phillies belong, possibly facing in a rematch their opponent from last season. Both never came to be, and now Harper, one of the game's most influential players over the last decade, is sitting at home without a trophy to hoist, a parade to ride in, or a ring ceremony to behold next season. Instead, it's back to finding out how to make any of those things possible…again.
That's why the Phillies are the most disappointing team of this year's MLB Playoffs.
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