🏟️ Cherishing the ride | Morning Newsletter

We’re getting nostalgic about the historic Phillies moment this place has been living through. In an improbable World Series appearance, the Phils won Game 1 in Houston, dropping Game 2 to the Astros. As the team heads home for Game 3 on Monday, they’ve already proven this postseason they should not be underestimated.

In today’s newsletter:

💡Highly Info-taining: Look back as columnist Mike Sielski gives us a history lesson on the Phillies’ endeavors over the years to reclimb the mountain.

❤️ Heartwarming: Best fan quotes.

😂 Hilarious: Best video moments to watch.

If you see this 🔑 in today’s newsletter, that means we’re highlighting our exclusive journalism. You need to be a subscriber to read these stories.

— Ashley Hoffman (@_AshleyHoffman, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

The Phillies worked hard to get this far. Mike Sielski has the story of where the Phillies have been since their five consecutive National League East pennants and two World Series appearances, including winning the 2008 World Series. He even talks to the Phanatical Top Gun star Miles Teller about it for this piece.

Here are five key takeaways straight from Sielski about the “attempts over the last decade to reclimb the mountain.”

🏟️ The Phillies tried clinging to aging superstars, hoping those franchise immortals — Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley — would conjure in their mid-30s the magic they had in their late-20s.

🏟️ They tried going full-bore into analytics.

🏟️ They tried replenishing the farm system, the course of action that caused John Middleton, standing on the field after Game 5 and thinking back a decade, to scrunch his face into a pained expression.

🏟️ Under the Andy MacPhail-Matt Klentak administration, there were misbegotten signings and acquisitions and draft picks and once-promising players who never panned out.

🏟️ There were August and September collapses under managers Gabe Kapler and Joe Girardi and the going-nowhere vibes early this season before the Phillies fired Girardi and elevated Thomson to the position.

Keep reading for for the full, thoughtful history from Mike Sielski. 🔑

Want epic fan quotes about the improbable run? Look no further than reporter Stephanie Farr’s stories.

🚩 “It couldn’t have happened without the crowd being so f—ing Philly. What other city’s first thought when they see a guy on a pole would be to throw him a beer?” — Sean Hagan, a.k.a. the pole climber who caught and shotgunned 7 beers, a.k.a. “Shrimp.”

🚩 “Win or lose, we wear our heart on our sleeves and you’re going to know how we feel. You don’t like it, we don’t care, and if you don’t like us, we don’t care.” — tattooed superfan Rob Dunphy.

🚩 “This is the best I’ve ever seen it for just the pennant. It’s like they already won the freaking World Series! It’s wonderful to live through this.” — Adele D’Angelo Masters.

🚩 “The series against the Cards was just incredible. I’ve never celebrated at 4 in the morning so much in my life. It was absolute euphoria.” — Dave Shaw, England’s most expressive Phillies fan.

🚩 “I will drive the bandwagon and make multiple stops along the way to pick up anyone who wants to ride along.” — Robert Cowie wrote to Stephanie.

🚩 “If America and the world are wondering why Philly is celebrating like this when we didn’t even win a championship yet, it’s because we believe we live in a modern Sparta, life is about survival and endurance, and any moment of glory is rare and worth savoring to its fullest.” — @karma_thief wrote to Stephanie.

📺 All of South Philly joining in “Dancing On My Own.”

📺 Mike Sielski’s source Miles Teller doing shots at Angelo’s.

📺 This legendary Manayunk man.

📺 Alec Bohm saying, definitively, “I love this place.”

📺 A long way down the pole from whence you came.

📺 Endless replay value: Bryce Harper’s OMG face.

📺 Pure joy at the stadium.

📺 A young child’s prayer answered.

What did the raucous Phillies celebrations in the streets not include?

A) A nor’easter with a cold rain and a biting wind

B) A giant Swoop mascot headpiece

C) Champagne and fireworks popping off

D) Philly Elmo and an impromptu batting cage

Find out if you remember.

When Mayor Richardson Dilworth held a news conference at City Hall in the ‘50s, he announced that the Phillies would open a stadium in the Northeast and it would be a ballpark, a boat marina, a bird refuge and would rival ...

ALDIS DENNY

Hint: 🏰+🐭 We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here. Send us your own original anagram to unscramble if you’d like. Email us if you know the answer. Cheers to Erica Griste who correctly guessed Friday’s answer: Phanatic.

🎶 Unsurprisingly, for today’s Sunday track, we’re listening to “Dancing On My Own.”

🎶 The unlikely origin story of the official Phillies anthem blasting across the city for weeks starts with the Red Sox, and Matt Mullin explains everything in this brief history.

🎶 As for why this one resonated, perhaps music critic Dan DeLuca says it best. “It’s a song about heartbreak and isolation. But it’s also about self-empowerment and resiliency, the latter a word associated with the Phillies team that got off to a woeful start under then-manager Joe Girardi before turning the season around under then-interim skipper Rob Thomson.”

🎶 Keep reading for more on why the Phillies’ official victory song caught on as the anthem of the Phillies’ improbable run.

👋🏽 You can cast local Verified Celebs in your dream movie version of the Phillies run with our endlessly entertaining feature. To the interactive!