The Eras tour | Sports Daily Newsletter

If you look at it from a pure championships standpoint, the last 10 years of Philly sports have been an incredible ride.

Three Super Bowl appearances for the Eagles, two that matriculated into Super Bowl titles, a World Series appearance for the Phillies, and even an MLS Cup final appearance for the ages for Union fans.

But does that mean this has been the best era in Philly sports? That’s what’s up for debate as our data and interactive team takes a look at the last 50 years of Philly sports history to answer the question. Sure, championships are great, but sometimes nostalgia and the players who took part in it can make it even greater.

We ran the data across several different criteria to create a Philly Achievement Number, or PhAN score, that helps determine which era is arguably the greatest.

That’s what we’re leading off with today as the nice weather we had yesterday subsides, delivering what’s expected to be a rainy Thursday across the region that’s not going to break out of the 50s.

It was fun while it lasted, though, right?

— Kerith Gabriel, @phillysport, sports.daily@inquirer.com.

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❓What’s your favorite era of Philly sports? Email us back for a chance to be featured in the newsletter.

It was entirely fitting that Justin Crawford delivered the game-winning hit Wednesday against the Nationals to cap a season-opening stretch in which the Phillies salvaged a 3-3 record almost entirely because of their two youngest players.

They won on opening day last Thursday, with Crawford making his major league debut in center field and notching two hits. Andrew Painter’s debut came five nights later, and he dominated for 5⅓ innings in a victory over the Nationals.

And Crawford punctuated the homestand with a three-hit game. At 22 years and 78 days old, he was the youngest Phillies player with a walk-off hit since Scott Rolen on June 5, 1997. Crawford is 7-for-17 and the fifth Phillies player since 1961 with at least seven hits through his first five games, joining Nick Maton, Jimmy Rollins, Mike Lieberthal, and Kevin Stocker.

Not bad for a first week, eh?

Painter was still sifting through congratulatory messages on the morning after his memorable debut — 5⅓ innings, four hits, one run, one walk, eight strikeouts in a 3-2 victory over the Nationals on Tuesday — when he heard from Aaron Barrett about a remarkable coincidence.

Next: After a day off, the Phillies will open a three-game series Friday night in Colorado. Aaron Nola (0-0, 5.40 ERA) will be opposed by Rockies right-hander Michael Lorenzen (0-0, 6.23).

🗣️ Sharing: The Philly fans who cooked former Sixers top draft pick Evan Turner on social media until he tapped out.

🤔 Wondering: Is Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie really in search of a better location for the team than Lincoln Financial Field?

⚽ Introducing: The Iraqi national soccer team, the last team to qualify for the FIFA World Cup, will play France in Philly on June 22.

🏒 Watching: Porter Martone take the ice for the first time as a Flyers player on Tuesday night.

🏀 Reading: After four years at three different schools, Temple’s Derrian Ford is entering the NBA draft.

Joel Embiid’s availability for the 76ers in their Wednesday game against the Washington Wizards became more of an ordeal than expected. The big man said he felt sick after facing the Miami Heat and scoring 26 points on 10-of-25 shooting. He was ruled out as a result. That must have been news for Embiid, who tweeted that his designation must have been an April Fool’s joke.

It was not, as the team decided that he needed to see a doctor after Embiid wasn’t healthy enough to attend a film session. Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey confirmed that Embiid would not play. The center responded with yet another tweet. “I guess they won’t let me play basketball!!” he wrote.

Paul George had his best scoring night in a Sixers uniform in the team’s 153-131 win over the Wizards. George scored 39 points, surpassing his previous high of 35.

“He showed really good leadership by coming out and being aggressive and getting us going at the start,” Sixers coach Nick Nurse said of George after the win.

While the Flyers are prioritizing the future, at present, the team is suddenly right back in the playoff hunt. But if they are to stay there, and potentially bring postseason hockey back to South Philly for the first time since 2018, they’ll need to learn two key lessons from Tuesday’s defeat in D.C., writes Jackie Spiegel.

Speaking of the future, the Flyers came to terms Wednesday on a two-year contract extension with a player they hope will be a big part of the team’s turnaround over the next few seasons.

When Philadelphia hosts a round-of-16 game of the FIFA World Cup on July 4, it will mark the final match of six that would have come through the city. And for some soccer fans, there isn’t anything perhaps more patriotic than the idea that the United States could conceivably host England in a match at Lincoln Financial Field on America’s birthday.

But how likely is that to happen? And if it did, what sort of scenario would the U.S. even be in to have the opportunity? That’s a question Inquirer soccer writer Jonathan Tannenwald and interactive designer Garland Fordice break down in this visual look at the path that leads to Philly.

Spoiler alert: It’s not a pretty one.

April 2, 2018: Donte DiVincenzo drops a game-high 31 points off the bench to help lift top-seeded Villanova to its second NCAA men’s basketball national championship in two years with a decisive 79-62 win against No. 3 Michigan.

Want to take a deeper dive into last night’s Sixers-Wizards game? Here’s a place to access your favorite Philadelphia teams’ statistics, schedules, and standings in real time.

“Painter’s physicality has its own gravity. His proportions are athletic in the classical sense. Almost perfectly so. Broad shoulders, thick hips, balanced center of gravity — he looks more like a tight end than an NBA wing. You have to stand next to him to appreciate it. Guys like him don’t work in middle management. You rarely see them in public. When you do, you know instinctively that they have a job most normal people don’t." — The latest from Murphy looks at the long-term upside of having a player like Andrew Painter on the Phillies roster.

DAVE NIKKENERY

This former Father Judge hoops standout just entered the NCAA’s transfer portal after one season at Merrimack. Do you know him? Take a guess and then click here to see if you’re correct.

We asked: What are your thoughts on A.J. Brown and speculation about him getting traded?

If he is a disrupting force in the locker room, he needs to go; it’s that simple. Football is the ultimate team sport. Everyone does their job and anything else asked of them. If the game plan is to use him as a decoy tying up defensive backs while allowing other receivers to get open, then he has done his job. If they are going to trade him, then obviously get the best deal at the time the cap hit is the lowest. — Joe T.

The only acceptable way to desire a trade for A.J.Brown would be to replace talent with talent. He is an exceptional player and in order to let him go we must replace him with an exceptional player, even if it is a rookie. — Richard F.

It would go in the annals as Ferguson Jenkins and Ryne Sandberg in my mind. You don’t dump generational talent without paying a very steep price. Let him play and play well in Philly. — Bill B.

Pick on somebody else, please! — Jill L.

Stop all this talk and speculation about A.J. Brown. He’s a great player. Keep him. — Dom R.

We compiled today’s newsletter using reporting from Sam Morris, Matt Mullin, Vaughn Johnson, Jonathan Tannenwald, Garland Fordice, Kerith Gabriel, Owen Hewitt, Ariel Simpson, Ryan Mack, Gustav Elvin, David Murphy, Joe Juliano, Scott Lauber, Gina Mizell, Jackie Spiegel, Gina Mizell, Gabriela Carroll, and Isabella DiAmore.

By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.

Thanks as always for spending your Thursday with me. Jim returns tomorrow to close out your weekend. — Kerith