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Phillies Temperature Check: Just Win, Baby
By Nick Piccone
Published:
I was bereft Saturday night after the Phillies got embarrassed once again on national television – this time by the Tampa Bay Rays. I really thought they were going to complete a collapse that the city of Philly hasn’t seen since 1964. I wasn’t born yet, so this would have been the worst Phillies collapse of my lifetime. I understand there are people alive in 1964 who kept saying this potential collapse wouldn’t compare to that one, but they have to understand that in 2026, a majority of Phillies fans had not experienced that. Plus, the here and now always feels worse in the moment than the then.
The fact is that even if the Phillies lose to the Braves, we won’t remember their September. For much of the season, many fans didn’t view this team as serious contenders. Honestly, who could blame them? They were older, got a manager fired, and the hitting continued their downward slope as the pitching tried to keep the team afloat – again. Then August happened. 21-7. An incredible run after the trade deadline that honestly started in the Iowa cornfields. It got people believing again. Hand up – I’m one of them. We hadn’t seen an offense completely change their philosophy, one that carried them through the rest of the month. We thought this offense should be sustainable for a deep playoff run because they were making it look pretty easy. Like a magic trick, the offense was good again.
Then, September. Ooooh, September. What a month. A month that justified every uneasy feeling any fan had felt this season. This was the Phillies we were afraid of. Simply put, this was the Phillies. I didn’t really think they would put themselves in the position they were in Sunday. A team that looked to have at the very least one of the first two Wild Cards locked up by the last series of the regular season kept losing. And the team chasing them, the Arizona Diamondbacks, kept winning. And the Phillies kept losing. And the DBacks kept winning. As painful as 2023’s NLCS Games 6 and 7 were to sit through, it was going to be equally as painful watching that same team lap the Phils en route to a playoff berth.
But Sunday, the Phils came to play. Maybe it helped that the Rays already had things locked up and were happy enough to win the final regular season series. Maybe the Phils were extra motivated because they knew that they just needed to win the game regardless of what happened with the DBacks. Of course, the same situation applied Saturday, and they got destroyed.
It certainly looked like a weight was lifted from this team during the postgame celebration in the clubhouse. They were acting like they’d just punched their ticket to the World Series. Some people had an issue with it. I didn’t. They made the postseason after a tumultuous six months where they were counted out a handful of times. Maybe more. They had their fair share of spectacular comebacks, but as September was rolling along, a lot of us felt like they’d already used up their magic for 2026. Maybe this will accelerate some changes in the organization, some of us thought. I wasn’t really thinking that, especially considering how many reports have surfaced the last few months all but guaranteeing Dave Dombrowski will be extended. But I just wanted them to win games. Get in and see what happens.
And that’s where I’m at today. They’re in. They’re playing the Braves. This series honestly means more for the Braves than the Phillies. If the Phillies lose, then they are who we thought they were. If they win, the Braves move to 0-4 against them in the postseason. It’s not necessarily win-win, it’s more like a can’t-lose. Even if Dombrowski is extended, and all signs point to that being the case, there will obviously be changes to the roster. I just don’t know if anyone trusts him to make it much better.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. It’s time to focus on the Braves. If you’re scared, get a dog. The Phillies are comin’ to getchya.
Nick Piccone has covered Philly sports and events for over 15 years with various outlets, including PhillyVoice.com and PhillyInfluencer.com. In 2015, he co-launched the Straight Shooters Podcast, focused on covering the professional wrestling industry. He was a producer at Fox Sports Radio Philadelphia and currently produces broadcast and social media content for the Villanova Sports Radio Network. He grew up in South Philadelphia and South Jersey, and is a graduate of Neumann University. Contact: picconenick@gmail.com