That was enjoyable, proper? | The Good Phight

With their 96th victory on Sunday, the Philadelphia Phillies accomplished their finest common season in 14 years, and fifth highest win whole in franchise historical past. They gained the National League East by 13 video games, and whereas a lot of the credit score for that may go to the collapse of the Braves and Mets, that ties the 2011 crew for his or her greatest division margin ever.

It must be troublesome to depend 2025 as something however an especially profitable season. Yet, based mostly on how some followers had been appearing on speak radio and social media all year long, you might need thought that the Phillies had been an enormous disappointment, and had been on the point of collapse the entire time.

There appear to be three principal classes of followers who contribute to this mindset:

While I skew in direction of the optimistic finish of the fan spectrum, there are some followers who’re at all times satisfied that the crew is on the point of collapse. The Phillies might win 9 straight video games, and as quickly as they fall behind in sport ten, they’re fast to announce that the crew is about to collapse and a dropping streak is imminent.

I get it to an extent. Sports fandom is mostly an train in frustration. Only one crew can win the World Series, so the season goes to finish in some degree of failure for 29 fanbases. And historical past has not been particularly sort for Phillies followers in that regard. Older followers have solely seen the crew win all of it twice, followers beneath 50 have solely seen it as soon as, and the youngest followers have by no means witnessed a Phillies parade down Broad Street.

Maybe you identical to to at all times be proper, and know that by predicting failure, the chances are in your favor. Maybe the pessimism is just a protection mechanism because you will be dissatisfied when you by no means get your hopes up. But to me, it seems like an terrible existence at all times anticipating the worst to occur.

While the town is clearly obsessed with its baseball crew, in the end, Philadelphia is a soccer metropolis. And with the native soccer crew having misplaced just one sport – and a fluky sport at that – over the previous 12 months, it’s straightforward to see why a soccer mentality has overtaken some followers’ brains.

But you’ll be able to’t deal with a 162 sport season like a 17 sport one. Every baseball crew, even excellent ones just like the Phillies, are going to undergo some tough stretches.

Remember when the Phillies misplaced 5 in a row in late April, together with a sweep by the hands of the Mets? Or how about in June once they had one other five-game skid, that noticed them lose three in a row to the Pirates? There was that sequence in Houston once they scored one run in three video games, and one more sweep in Citi Field in late August.

After every of these stretches, there have been individuals (nearly gleefully) declaring the Phillies to be in BIG TROUBLE, and that they’d be fortunate to even seize a Wild Card berth. As it turned out, the Phillies had been capable of overcome these tough patches to win 96 video games and the NL East.

Of course, some followers will let you know that doesn’t matter as a result of…

3. It’s all in regards to the postseason

For some, the common season is just a precursor to the actual season, and except you win the World Series, the season has been a failure. Some of the Doomers additionally fall into this class as of their eyes, each common season loss – and even among the wins – expose a deadly flaw that can doom the crew within the playoffs.

They’re satisfied that nothing has essentially modified with the crew from the previous few years, which suggests they’re destined to return up quick once more. (I wrote about how previous failures will not be essentially good predictors of the longer term.)

I perceive that the World Series must be the aim for each crew, as you don’t get an enormous shiny trophy and a championship parade for having a pleasant common season. But does that imply we will’t benefit from the journey alongside the way in which? The common season is six months lengthy. If you’ll be able to’t get pleasure from that since you’re fearful what’s going to occur in a 5 or seven sport sequence, then what’s even the purpose of being a fan?

We received to witness in one of many biggest energy hitting seasons in crew historical past. We received to see a Phillie win a batting title for the primary time in 67 years. We received to see a homegrown pitcher take the subsequent step and change into among the finest in baseball. And we received to see the Phillies come away victorious 96 instances. If you weren’t capable of get pleasure from any of that since you are satisfied that they’re going to return up quick in October, that seems like a tragic solution to spend half the 12 months.

Everyone – myself included – might be dissatisfied if the Phillies come up quick of their quest for one more championship. But we’ve received a couple of days till the NLDS, so earlier than we get caught up within the drama of the postseason, why not take a minute to acknowledge and recognize among the finest seasons in franchise historical past?