Some perspective on Phillies’ postseason

To be a sports fan is to experience agony and ecstasy, sometimes in extremely close succession. Phillies fans had exactly that sort of experience this month.

A year after the team gave its followers a thrilling run to the World Series, the scenario seemed certain to repeat: Charge through the early rounds of the playoffs — knocking off the powerhouse Atlanta Braves along the way — then plow through a lesser team in the National League Championship Series on their way to another Fall Classic, hopefully this time with better results than in 2022.

Things were going great early on against the Arizona Diamondbacks, a lower-seeded team that barely made the playoffs. The Phillies, making the most of their raucous home ballpark, pounded their opponents into submission in the first two games.

The first sign of trouble was two straight losses at Arizona, but the Phils came charging back with a one-sided win in Game 5. The Phillies were returning home, where they hadn’t lost all postseason, needing to win just one game out of two.

Well, we all know what happened. The scrappy Diamondbacks scored early and quieted the Philadelphia crowd, and their pitchers silenced the Phillies’ big bats.

A postseason that seemed so promising ended for the Phillies in one of the most bitter defeats in franchise history.

We are not foolish enough to try to cheer people up at this point. The pain is too fresh, and we know the fans of this region far too well. A loss like this, especially in the wake of the excitement that preceded it, is a visceral blow that will stay with people for a very long time.

However, we will offer a bit of perspective on the season that may be helpful as people process the events of the past few weeks.

First and foremost, Phillies fans ultimately should be thankful for what the team brought them the past two seasons, especially in October.

The display of hitting that the Phillies put on against in the first two playoff rounds and early in the Diamondbacks series was nothing short of astonishing. Players like Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper, Nick Castellanos and Trea Turner were making it look like they were at batting practice as they faced some of the best pitchers in the game in high-stakes situations.

This created excitement at Citizens Bank Park that further burnished its fans’ image as among the most vocal and passionate in sports. Some compared the din in the Philadelphia park to the noise made by college football crowds in stadiums that hold twice as many people.

And while Philadelphia fans still take pride in their reputation for being, shall we say, abrasive, this season did offer them a chance to show another side of their personality.

Turner signed with the Phillies last offseason to an 11-year, $300 million contract, based on his track record as an excellent hitter with plenty of speed and power.

He got off to a terrible start in Philadelphia, and the fans naturally got impatient with him. But in early August the crowd at Citizens Bank Park, inspired by a rare example of positive messaging from sports talk radio, gave Turner a standing ovation in a show of moral support. The shortstop immediately turned things around, getting hot late in the season and staying that way for much of the playoffs. Perhaps this is a lesson fans can apply down the road. It’s doubtful, of course, but you never know.

It’s also important to point out that Philadelphia fans are enjoying an enviable run of success by their teams in recent years. Just last year the Phillies, the Eagles and the Union (professional soccer) all made it to the final round of their playoffs. That’s a rare feat and created tremendous excitement along the way. That all of them lost was painful, but the accomplishment was still impressive.

There’s reason to hope for more. The Eagles are having another strong season, and the 76ers have been very competitive for years despite their troubles advancing far in the playoffs.

And before we know it spring will be approaching once again, the Phillies will be gathering in Florida, and fans will be putting this fall’s disappointment aside and hoping for another strong season with a happier ending.

We congratulate the team on their exciting, fun 2023 campaign and the fans who helped make it happen.