The Phillies did it again.
A 96-win season ended with a wild throw to the wrong base. Diehard fans will again spend hours on hold as they seek to get their National League Championship Series and World Series tickets refunded.
Again, the bats went cold when it mattered most.
Again, the Phillies gave fans just enough to shout “we’re so back” a night after decrying “it’s so over” — just for it all to be over.
It didn’t matter that designated hitter Kyle Schwarber had a an MVP-caliber year, or that pitcher Cristopher Sanchez is expected to get his fair share of Cy Young votes.
It was only Oct. 9, but the month was no longer Red.
And if any fan thought that they would get a nice win from the World Champion Philadelphia Eagles as a palate cleanser, the pit in the stomach of Philadelphia sports fans just grew as they flipped to Thursday Night Football to watch the New York Giants shut out the Birds in the second half of the game.
Only twice has a city’s NHL and NFL teams lost games on the same night their MLB team was eliminated from the postseason.
The first time was Philadelphia in 1983.
The second was Philadelphia Thursday night. A truly undesired Philly Special.
In true baseball fashion, the loss sparked a range of reaction from fans. And in contrast to the reputation of the Philadelphia Fan, some even responded somewhat rationally.
“We held our own and I’m not mad at that,” said Darren Murray Jr., 39, in his 2024 Phillies postseason cap, vowing to still “bleed red and green” the morning after both teams lost.
“We basically played the Shaq and Kobe Lakers,” Murray said of the Los Angeles Dodgers, the defending World Series champs and team with the highest payroll in baseball.
Still, the flags and fan-coined “Schwarbomb” posters adorning homes across the city felt like a taunt as the core of the team could look entirely different next season, with Kyle Schwarber, J.T. Realmuto, and Ranger Suárez entering free agency.
The only man wearing a Phillies hat near Marconi Plaza politely declined to weigh in on the future of the team. At least it wasn’t a sweep, he said before walking away in resignation. Another man described his friend as being in a state of “agita.”
Meanwhile, the few patrons at Ray’s Happy Birthday Bar were in a contemplative mood. Bartender Michael Woloszczuk, reporting a slower-than-usual Friday, blamed the Flyers, Eagles, and, of course, the Phillies’ loss.
“I think people might be inclined to let themselves be miserable today,” he said.
The city seemed to ricochet between feeling angry at the cold bats and sympathy for 24-year-old Orion Kerkering, who, while not the sole reason the Phillies lost, had the unfortunate luck of ending the series. The image of Realmuto signaling Kerkering to throw the ball to first, only for the reliever to throw a ball to the backstop behind home plate, haunted fans.
Schwenksville native Erik Moyers couldn’t help but feel for Kerkering.
“He’s the same age as me, 24 years old,” said Moyers. “The ball comes to him, he boggles it, and he’s in a panic … That ball is going to first base 10 times out of 10, it’s the easiest base to get to.”
But that’s not why October ended early this year.
As someone who played baseball into college, Murray was also understanding of Kerkering, who he said was under “a million pounds of pressure.” Besides, it takes a team to lose a series.
Sure, said Murray, sometimes your bats fall asleep and there’s nothing to be done.
“But Bryce Harper needs to stop swinging for the fences,” he said.
Other fans, like Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, did not let Thursday’s loss shake her faith.
“I believed in our Philadelphia Phillies yesterday, I believe in them today, and I’ll believe in them tomorrow,” she said. “This too shall pass, and we will do what we always do: Come back stronger than we were before.”
Sadly, it is this era of Phillies baseball, and a championship window, that might have passed the city by late Thursday night.
Frank Palmariko didn’t want to disclose his age, but described himself as old enough to die without seeing another Phillies win. He said part of the disappointment this season was fueled by recent team success.
“Since 2022, we’ve been in the playoffs,” he said. “There’s a constant feeling that this is the year, that this isn’t a fluke, it’s a buildup, but we fell short this year.”
Palmariko, however, has seen plenty of losses throughout his lifelong fandom. So his plans to take his family to Phillies games won’t change, though he does feel as if it is the “end of an era” with changes to the roster likely.
In Center City, 27-year-old Davis Reid welcomed the opportunity to “blow it up” and change everything from the roster to management.
“I think everybody is kind of in a hot seat after this,” he said. “After three straight years of failing, [they’re] in the hot seat.”
No matter how charming and successful this team was on a good day — after all, they won 96 games in the regular season — it’s hard to feel too bad considering their hefty paychecks, said some fans. At the same time, did you look at the postgame interviews? It’s hard to see grown men on the verge of tears talking about how much they love each other.
How can you not be romantic about baseball?
Behind the beer taps at Ray’s Happy Birthday Bar, Woloszczuk reminisced on the ebbs and flows of Philly sports with his patrons. Would it be great to experience the unprecedented success Boston had the fortune of having for some 20 years? Of course, he said. Yet Woloszczuk mused on how Philly sports fandom is just as much about the collective experience, the meetups, the frenzied group chats.
“We live and die with all of this,” he said behind his pulpit. “It’s like a mass psychosis we all participate in and every fan has hope. Once you participate in a parade with friends and family, there’s nothing more cathartic.”
Yes, Woloszczuk is saying it’s just as much about the friends we made along the way and the reason Philly sports are so fun is because fans have agreed to stay till the bitter end.
“Sports love is very irrational, it’s up there with religion, it’s essentially rooting for laundry,” he said.
Staff writer Anna Orso contributed to this article.