ruben ice

“You know what, guys? I’ve been thinking, and I’m not so sure we’re going to make the playoffs,” Ruben Amaro said, to a room of slack-jawed people all thinking the same thing: “No shit.”

Ruben Amaro told reporters in Anaheim on Wednesday, according to Todd Zolecki, that he’s starting to realize the 2014 Playoffs may be out of reach:

“Right now, we’re trying to win as many games as possible,” Amaro said. “At the same time, at some point, we’re going to have to start looking to the future. And once we’re ‘eliminated’ … listen, is it a long shot to get back into this Wild Card race? It is. Numerically it’s not impossible, but right now obviously I’d be foolish to say it’s something that’s probable.”

As Zolecki very helpfully points out, “the Cardinals are on pace to win the second NL Wild Card spot with 86 wins. The Phillies (53-68) would need to finish 33-8 (.805) to win 86 games.” Thus continues the trend of Ruben finally realizing things long after the entire fan base has.

And I’m sure there are some of you reading this thinking to yourselves “I bet they haven’t even begun to think about 2016 yet.” And you are only part right. They haven’t even begun to think about 2015. Ruben continued:

“And at some point, we may be looking more at what we have to do for 2015 as far as what’s going on, on the field. But until then, we’ll make the decision when it’s the appropriate time, when it’s time to start to looking to 2015 and beyond. We’re not quite there yet …

At some point, [Sandberg and I will] get together to discuss when and if we get to the point to start looking to 2015, 2016 and beyond that. We’ll get on the page and start talking about what it is that needs to be done as far as playing time and other stuff … But I don’t have any issue at all with how our veteran guys are playing.”

There’s at least some small yet upsetting comfort in knowing exactly what Ruben is thinking. All you have to do is think rationally about the Phillies and realize Ruben is thinking the exact opposite thing.