The Philadelphia Phillies came back home to the City of Brotherly Love with two chances to make a return trip to the World Series. However, the Phillies ended up blowing both of those opportunities, seeing their season come to an end after suffering a 4-2 loss in Game 7 of the NLCS against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Understandably, the entire Phillies organization is distraught as they were on the precipice of perhaps redeeming their gut-wrenching World Series defeat last year, only for them to fall short of their goal entirely. Nevertheless, manager Rob Thomson reassured the team that their playoff exit is nothing to hang their heads over, as they put up a valiant fight all throughout the season.

“It's very disappointing, it really is. I told the club, if you asked me two days ago, two weeks ago, two months ago if we'd be going home tonight, I would've said no. That's how much belief I have in this club, so it's very disappointing,” Thomson told reporters after their playoff exit, per Barstool Philly. “But our clubhouse, those guys, they have nothing to be ashamed of because they played their a**es off all year for us.”

In the playoffs, there is quite a lot of randomness baked in due to the nature of baseball. Lady luck, this time, just didn't shine in the Phillies' favor. Credit must go to the Diamondbacks for quieting a lot of the Phillies' bats in the postseason after the likes of Nick Castellanos, Bryce Harper, and Trea Turner all had their way against the Atlanta Braves more so than criticism for the Phillies' inability to string together a few runs when it mattered most.

At the end of the day, only one team will be able to claim the World Series trophy, so the Phillies truly have nothing to be ashamed of, like Rob Thomson said, when it comes to the performance they put up. It may not result in a championship, but the Phillies, barring any unforeseen disaster or decline, should be back next season, perhaps with the lessons they've learned in suffering yet another crushing postseason exit.