Philly playoff fever for Union, Phillies | Sports Daily Newsletter

Although things have to go somewhat right for a team to arrive in the playoffs, no matter how well things go in the regular season, championships aren’t won if teams can’t perform in the playoffs. The Phillies, who for so long have knocked at the door of the playoffs, finally made it back after a decade away.

Now they play with a countdown of a few games to win to get them to the World Series. All that stands in their way are the Padres.

Similarly, the Union have a small number of games to win to reach the MLS Cup final. However, their margin for error is nil, since these all are elimination games. In a different way, their fans also have suffered through lean years and heartbreaks, like last season’s COVID-19-affected Eastern Conference final loss.

Now the Union advance to that game again, with the organization’s first-ever MLS Cup final only a win away.

— Andrea Canales, Inquirer Sports Staff, @phillysport, sports.daily@inquirer.com.

There were a lot of things working in David Adelman’s favor. He is collaborating with 76ers ownership as chairman of 76 Devcorp, a new development company responsible for building 76 Place at Market East. For 25 years, he has also been best friends with Michael Rubin, whose company, Fanatics, became too large of a player in sports for him to remain a Sixers limited partner.

Now Adelman has taken over the mantle after purchasing a portion of Rubin’s 10% stake in Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment. And, predictably, he said it was a natural fit. “I think being the Philadelphia partner, I can bring some perspective of the city and things like that,” Adelman said. “You know working, being partners with them on the arena, it feels very natural there.”

What doesn’t feel natural is the Sixers being suddenly winless on the season.

Keith Pompey takes a closer look at how it happened.

Next: The Sixers take the court again Saturday at 6 p.m. Saturday at the Wells Fargo Center.

By the middle of December in 2020, the Phillies were 5½ years into a stagnating rebuild. They had put a cart filled with high-salaried free agents ahead of the twin horses of drafting and development, and the whole endeavor stalled. As owner John Middleton sought a new architect, what he really needed was a handyman. Enter Dave Dombrowski.

Blowing a 4-0 lead Wednesday in San Diego means the Phillies will need at least one — maybe two — victories from a pitcher not named Wheeler or Nola.

The former Phillie who hit one of the most dramatic home runs in National League Championship Series history will throw the ceremonial first pitch Friday.

Next: The series moves to Citizens Bank Park for Game 3 at 7:37 p.m. Friday (FS1). Ranger Suárez (3.65 ERA in the regular season, 2.70 in one playoff start) will start against Padres right-hander Joe Musgrove (2.93 in the regular season, 1.38 in two playoff starts).

The Eagles can beat opponents in different ways, but it’s a great sign for them that when they want to, they have the personnel to run the ball down the throat of a defense. They showed this in the game-sealing drive against Dallas. And as Jordan Mailata notes, even when a defense knows it’s coming, the Eagles running game can’t be stopped. The Eagles are smart to run the ball a lot because they’re able to counter modern defenses that are set up to stopping passing attacks, writes columnist Mike Sielski.

The Flyers unveiled their new “Reverse Retro” jerseys on Thursday, and they are CLEAN.

While the Flyers’ new sweaters may be pretty, the team’s play hasn’t always been, and that’s perfectly fine with John Tortorella. Giana Han on why “ugly” is just as good as beautiful for the Flyers’ new coach.

Next: The Flyers are in Music City on Saturday to wrap up their three-game road trip against the Nashville Predators (8 p.m., NBCSP+).

The time off cost the Union a certain amount of rhythm. Also, it can’t be discounted how much captain Alejandro Bedoya was missed due to a lingering injury. One also imagines the fratricide of killing the playoff chances of players and staff who were for so long teammates possibly affected both squads. Whatever the exact reason, the play of the first half of the Union versus FC Cincinnati MLS Cup playoff game was, in a word, rough.

Things improved. Andre Blake and the impressive Union defense worked their magic to keep the Union in it and eventually, goalscoring hero Leon Flach stepped forward. Leon Flach? Yes, no one had him in their bet placement to score a goal, but, Jonathan Tannenwald notes, that’s the wonder of playoff soccer.

Also, Mike Jensen writes, that’s part of the alchemy of this Union squad, which embraces a next man up philosophy. It starts at the top of the Union structure, finding hidden gems, trusting them to shine, and doing it so consistently, it’s almost miraculous.

Redemption tour: After blowout loss against Central Florida, Temple hopes to get back to winning ways.

Rushing around: Villanova will rely on its ground game to get back on track against Albany.

We asked who would win the NLCS and in how many games? Among your responses:

Phillies win the NLCS in 6 — Robert G.

We compiled today’s newsletter using reporting from Keith Pompey, Gina Mizell, Mike Sielski, Scott Lauber, Jeff Neiburg, Gustav Elvin, Giana Han, Jonathan Tannenwald, Mike Jensen, Cayden Steele, Erin McCarthy and Meghann Morhardt.