The Phillies remain all in to win the World Series. Vanquishing a red-hot Mets team comes first.
The Phillies see a lot of similarities between the 2022 version of themselves and the 2024 Mets. But the Phillies ran back their roster for this moment, and have embraced the expectations all season.
When they left home to play the final week of the regular season, there was no guarantee they’d be back. But they squeaked into the playoffs, ending a long drought, then survived the wild-card series on the road.
From then on, they played only with house money.
That’s the story of the 2024 Mets.
Also, the 2022 Phillies.
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“For sure, I definitely see a lot of similarities,” J.T. Realmuto said Friday, the eve of Game 1 of the division series between the Phillies and Mets, the first postseason series ever between the rivals. “They’re a really hot team. They have a lot of momentum, and that’s very similar to us in 2022. You get in late, you’re riding the high, and then you just roll with that confidence, and it takes you through.”
But those Phillies aren’t these Phillies. Or these Mets, for that matter. Just getting here isn’t enough. Not after going all the way to Game 6 of the World Series in that magical postseason in 2022. Certainly not after losing Game 6 and 7 — at home — to the 84-win Diamondbacks in the National League Championship Series last year.
And not after management ran back the same roster for another shot at getting owner John Middleton’s dang World Series trophy back.
No, these Phillies are here to win it all. It’s what they have told us all season. When they got off to the best 50-game start in franchise history and were playing at a pace that rivaled the 116-win Mariners in 2001, manager Rob Thomson memorably said, “What did they do at the end?”
Seattle didn’t win the World Series, precisely Thomson’s point.
There’s no such thing as house money anymore. It’s only about real money, as in the nearly $261 million (calculated for the luxury tax) that Middleton is pouring into the team. The Phillies drew 3.363 million fans to Citizens Bank Park, their highest attendance since 2011. That team was supposed to win it all. The expectation is the same for this club.
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“It’s kind of rare to have a lot of the same guys on a team for years,” NLDS Game 3 starter Aaron Nola said. “You don’t see it as much as you used to. We definitely don’t take that for granted.”
Former Phillies from the franchise’s first golden era will tell you about their NLCS losses in 1976, 1977, and 1978. By 1980, they knew that they had to either win the World Series or the roster would be broken up. Larry Bowa says owner Ruly Carpenter told him as much before the season.
It hasn’t come to that yet for this group. Each member of the high-priced core — Bryce Harper, Trea Turner, Zack Wheeler, Nola, Realmuto, Nick Castellanos, and Kyle Schwarber — is under contract through at least next season. Fall short again, and they’ll probably get another kick at the can in 2025.
But there won’t be as much tolerance, within the fan base or the owner’s office, for another postseason disappearing act by the offense. If that means additional pressure, well, Thomson welcomes it.
“If people don’t have expectations on you, you’re probably not very good,” he said. “So, I’d rather have the expectations.”
House money? That belongs to the Mets now. They pulled out two of the best wins in franchise history in four days — a two-run ninth inning in the first game of a makeup doubleheader Monday to get into the playoffs, then a four-run ninth on Thursday to vanquish the Brewers in a winner-take-all Game 3 of the wild-card round.
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And upon arriving in Philadelphia on Friday, they made a surprise announcement: Kodai Senga, who pitched one game this season, on July 26, and strained his calf in that game, will start Game 1.
“He’s been in Florida, throwing, facing hitters,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “We have a plan. But we’re going to go out there and watch him closely, and go from there. But he’s ready to go, and that’s why we’re going with him on Game 1.”
Also, why not?
The Mets used nine pitchers, including four starters, in the three game wild-card series. If Senga, whom the Phillies haven’t faced since last season, can get through the lineup once, those nine outs could revitalize a pitching staff that must be operating on fumes.
Many of the Phillies got together Thursday night for a cookout and to watch Mets-Brewers Game 3 at Castellanos’ house in South Jersey.
“We do cookouts like that pretty regularly throughout the season,” Realmuto said. “That was probably the first time we’ve ever done one and actually watched baseball. Usually we’re just hanging out, maybe watching a football game. None of us have ever sat around and watched a baseball game together.”
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For the next three or four weeks, they’re hoping to give everyone else something to watch.
“We made that little step in ‘22, ‘23, and then now, we won the division,” Nola said. “Hopefully we can keep that thing going and get hot in the postseason and win the World Series.”
That’s the goal. Nothing less.