Phinally,
After 4,017 days, my Philadelphia Phillies are back in the playoffs.
It has been 11 long, dark, painful years since this baseball team last played meaningful games in October. So much has changed since then.
11 years ago, I was 11 years old and in the 6th grade, my first year of middle school.
I graduated from middle school and went to high school. I went through the ups and downs of high school and made it to college.
I have had so many experiences in college, and now I am almost at the end
So many life experiences, except seeing my beloved baseball team in the playoffs.
I am now 22 and in my final year of college. It has been half my life since the last time the Phillies were in the playoffs.
October 7th, 2011. NLDS Game 5, Bottom of the 9th, 2 outs to go.
The Phillies were down 1-0 to the Cardinals. Up to bat was Ryan Howard, one of the faces of the most prosperous era in Phillies history.
Howard was a former 5th round pick in the 2001 draft. Nicknamed the “Big Piece”, Howard won NL Rookie of the Year in 2005 and the NL MVP in 2006.
A three-time All-Star, Howard was beloved by everyone in the city, but this time, Big Piece couldn’t bail them out like he had many times before.
Howard hit a ground ball, game over
While running to first, something worse happens; his Achilles ruptures. Just like that, the most prosperous era of Phillies baseball was over.
I don’t think any fan knew that they were heading to a long playoff drought. Coming into 2012, they were fresh off a franchise-best 102-win season with much of their core was still there, with some new faces thrown in as well.
We were going to be fine!
Until the injuries popped up, and the old core of Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, and Ryan Howard could no longer stay on the field.
After that, the hard goodbyes had to come.
Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins were shipped out west to the Dodgers in different trades. Howard stayed till 2016 through on and off injuries before calling it quits.
In his last game with the Phillies, 2008 World Series MVP Cole Hamels pitched a no-hitter against the Cubs in 2015. A few days later, he was a Texas Ranger.
After being one of the most dominant pitchers of his generation, Roy “Doc” Halladay finished his 2013 season on the IL. He wouldn’t pitch again and called it a career.
We love and miss you everyday, Doc. Cliff Lee, another dominant pitcher of his generation, suffered an elbow injury and before the 2016 season, hung up his glove.
Forced into a rebuild, it wouldn’t take that long, right?
Ryne Sandberg, who replaced Charlie Manuel (aka the best manager in franchise history), also jumped ship because he didn’t want to participate in said rebuild.
Pete MacKanin got the most out of those Phillies teams after replacing Sandberg.
That’s saying something because he was the manager during the dark, dark days of the rebuild from 2015-2017.
After not receiving a contract the Phillies moved on from Pete to Gabe Kaplar.
Kapler had some ideas that were definitely different; however with more talent on those teams, they still failed to make the playoffs after blowing big leads in the NL East in two consecutive seasons.
After the short-lived Kaplar era from 2018-2019, Joe Girardi came in, and from the COVID 2020 season through June 2022, he constantly made lineup blunders, bad bullpen decisions, and constantly showed no heart.
So managers aside, what else happened?
Well after Ruben Amaro Jr. set the rebuild in place, Matt Klentak and Andy MacPhail were tasked with getting this team on track.
Let’s see how they did, surely they didn’t show incompetence the entire time here and their incompetence was replaced by a GM who has built consistent winners.
Wait, Dave Dombrowski is the GM of the Phillies now?
Yeah that explains the Klentak era. His only highlight was the 2019 off-season.
Getting Andrew Mccutchen, trading for JT Realmuto, trading for Jean Segura, and signing Bryce Harper.
Other than that Matt Klentak was completely overmatched. He whiffed on draft picks, ruined the farm system, and made top-heavy rosters that never had depth.
He set this franchise back years, and it is only now that those sins of Klentak have been washed away.
My point is, my dear reader, that I, like every other Phillies fan, has been through a lot.
I’ve had to watch Vince Velazquez be a starting pitcher here. I had to watch a washed-up Jake Arrieta pitch here. I had to watch Jeremy Hellickson, and Jerad Eickhoff be starting pitchers.
I had the hope in Dominic Brown, only then to watch him wither away. I was excited for Scott Kingery, only to see his managers never know where to hit him or play him in the field and watch him stall his development and ruin him as a prospect.
I watched Heath Hembree and the 2020 bullpen post a 7.06 ERA. I have watched September collapse after September collapse since 2018.
It has been a long, arduous road. I questioned if I was ever going to see playoff baseball here again.
That’s why Monday, October 3rd, 2022 meant so much.
Going up against the Houston Astros, the team with the most wins in the AL, the Phillies needed 1 game to clinch the final NL wild card slot.
Aaron Nola, the pitcher with the most innings pitched since 2018 and a gem from the rebuild, took the mound and pitched the best game of his life.
It hasn’t always been pretty with Nola, but I will forever remember him for that. He took a perfect game into the 7th and only allowed two hits all game.
Kyle Schwarber, signed this off-season, quickly emerged as a leader in the locker room. He hit 2 home runs in the game. He is establishing himself as one of my favorite players in the sport.
Bryson Stott, the rookie shortstop who has a bright future, cranked his 10th home run of the year to extend the lead to 3-0.
Jose Alvarado, the relief pitcher who spent time in triple-AAA this season to reset himself, kept the foot on the gas for Nola.
Zach Eflin, the key prospect in the deal that sent franchise cornerstone Jimmy Rollins to the Dodgers, came in.
Eflin always had the stuff to be the starter, but injuries always stalled his progress.
After another injury stint, he vowed to come back if only as a reliever, a role he has never done before this season.
After 2 pitches, he had 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th.
A few more pitches later, it was over.
The drought was over.
I finally get to see #RedOcotber again.
The Wide World of Dirt 
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