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Philly teams not looking great in ESPN's Ultimate Standings

As if you needed to hear it from someone else, Philly sports teams are the opposite of good right now.

    by Justin Klugh
    Published 

You don't need a magazine to tell you things are dire on the Philadelphia sports scene. But one is telling you anyway! What fun.

The Phillies finished in last this season - but locked up that top draft pick - and seem excited about their future with young potential stars. The Eagles started with a disappointing 1-3 record before pounding the Saints this week and hope next Monday's black-out has similar effects on the Giants as last season's affair. The Sixers continue working and developing their young talent, according to plan, and the Flyers just got their first win under new coach Dave Hakstol.

So if you squint hard enough, the optimismic Philly sports fan can see something resembling hope. Unfortunately, that optimist is often yelled into submission by the eternally dead inside, who have their constant negativity reaffirmed when a national outlet such as ESPN: The Magazine does something like rank all major sports franchises and puts the highest Philadelphia team at No. 79.

Out of all NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL teams, a total of 122, Philadelphia's representatives in each league ranked the following:

  1. No. 79: Eagles

  2. No. 81: Flyers

  3. No. 98: Sixers

  4. No. 118: Phillies

Chip Kelly's 2-3 Eagles are the best, barely nudging out the Flyers for the coveted 79th spot, putting them 18 spots way from the upper half of the rankings (so close). The 76ers are sitting a spot above the Toronto Blue Jays, who are currently playing in the MLB playoffs with a roster of All-Stars and looking good doing it. Apparently, for ESPN, letting Ruben Amaro go did nothing to help the Phillies, who came in fourth to last, sandwiched between the Tennessee Titans and Denver Nuggets.

Other rankings, according to ESPN:

  1. No. 1 team: San Antonio Spurs

  2. No. 122 team: Toronto Maple Leafs

  3. Top MLB team: Pittsburgh Pirates (No. 8)

  4. Top NFL team: Seattle Seahawks (No. 5)

  5. Top NHL team: Tampa Bay Lightning (No. 3)