I've had a sports complex for a long time, and now you're gonna hear about it.
Remembering an unlikely Phillies sweep against the Yankees
With the Yankees and their unkempt supporters in town, let's look back on the teams' 1997 series.
Published July 28, 2024
The 1997 Philadelphia Phillies were, as you might recall, not good. Under rookie skipper Terry Francona, the talent-poor Phils posted a 50-82 mark through the end of August that year, sitting a mere 33 games out of first place with 30 games to go. (Seems like the math wasn’t in their favor.)
The 1997 season was notable, of course, because it saw MLB institute interleague play, giving fans across the league a chance to glimpse clubs from the other league that they’d otherwise never see. On September 1, the defending champion Yankees rolled into Veterans Stadium, carrying a 79-55 record with them as they set their sights on a repeat that fall. It looked like it was going to get ugly, but baseball is baseball, and a funny thing happened over the ensuing three days.
Over 50,000 people packed the Vet on Labor Day afternoon for the series opener, and it didn’t hurt the Phillies’ chances that Curt Schilling was toeing the rubber. Schilling was, to put it mildly, dialed in that day. He struck out 16 Yankees, the highest single-game total he’d ever have as a Phil, in a 5-1 win. I’m told that Schilling wouldn’t terrorize the Yankees later in his career, but I haven’t looked it up to confirm. Anyway, it was sweet redemption 47 years after the Phillies had last played the Yankees and were swept in the 1950 World Series. Well, maybe not quite redemption, but it was fun. The lone home run of the game was hit by Tony Barron, one of just four MLB longballs for a guy whose body should have exploded only a month earlier as he made possibly the greatest catch in team history.
Schilling was a tough act to follow, but the middle game of the series was another Phillies victory, as Mike Grace befuddled the Yankees with a complete game shutout in a 5-0 win. In a stat line you don’t see anymore, Grace needed just 84 pitches on the day, striking out one hitter while getting 13 ground ball outs and 13 fly ball outs. He allowed only three hits and didn’t walk a soul.
In the series finale, the Yankees finally got some offense going against the Phillies, as they put up a pair of runs in both the first and fifth innings against Phils starter Tyler Green. But the Phillies also managed four runs off of Yankees starter Dwight Gooden (including a Kevin Stocker home run) and the game got all the way to the ninth inning deadlocked 4-4. Jerry Spradlin handled the Bombers easily in the top of the ninth, and the Phillies had their chance.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Phils got singles from Mickey Morandini, Scott Rolen, and Rico Brogna. With two outs and the bases full, Barron came to the plate. Yankees reliever Mike Stanton couldn’t find the strike zone, walking Barron on four pitches to force in a run and give the Phillies a 5-4 win and an extremely improbable series sweep. Anything can happen in baseball, but not many would have figured a Phillies team that would go on to tie for the worst record in the NL could have swept the playoff-bound Yankees.
The Yankees would turn the tables on the Phillies the following season, sweeping them at Yankee Stadium. There has never been another 3-game sweep in subsequent series between the teams, and the Phillies’ regular season record against the Yankees stands at 20-21 as we enter this week’s set at CBP. In recalling their inaugural interleague meeting from 1997, it’s yet another example that anything can happen, and even the most knowledgeable among us is often made to feel like we don’t know anything when it comes to sports. Except me, my stuff is always spot on.
Scott Rolen apparently was enthusiastic about playing the Yankees in 1997. (Tom Mihalek/Getty)
Ranking PHLY 'Rank Week' Among the Rankings We've Ranked
We really do eat this stuff up.
Published July 19, 2024
For the uninitiated, PHLY just completed their ‘Rank Week’, where they ranked the “top 25 Philadelphia games” since 1980. It’s a simple concept and a time-tested one, especially around the MLB all-star break, which is literally the only time all year that we don’t have actual games going on to talk about.
This was a good list overall, and I like that they cut it off at 1980, because anything before that feels like the Stone Age (looking at you, Flyers). Still, even for a rapidly aging fan like me, I’m not going to be able to give an accurate assessment of anything preceding the 1993 Phillies, so I have to rely on the wisdom of my dad and other folks to guide me on the right path before that.
I won’t go completely re-ranking their list, but I figured I would just offer some general notes and suggestions. People really wanted my input; what can I say? So, here goes…
Eagles Super Bowl win at #1, and Phillies 2008 clincher at #2. Absolute no brainers there, and I can’t argue with either. Then we get to the Eagles’ 1981 (really the 1980 season) NFC Championship win over the Cowboys. I’m not convinced. On its surface, it seems like a slam dunk, beating Dallas to reach the team’s first ever Super Bowl. But I think that the ravages of time have eroded this one, and fans under about 55 years old can’t really fully appreciate it. I’d bump the Phillies actually winning a title in 1980 ahead of this one, along with a handful of other games.
Moving on down, the top-ranked Flyers game is the 2010 Game 7 win over Boston, which comes in at #5. Again, I’m conflicted. The game itself was a classic ‘Rocky’ moment, with the Flyers falling behind 3-0 in a series-deciding game, on the road no less, then rallying for a 4-3 win. Throw in the fact that they trailed the series 3-0 and completed an amazing comeback, and I guess that pushes it over the hump into ‘most deserving Flyers game’ territory. Now, the question becomes, do we grade the game in a bubble, or does the ongoing narrative matter? If this had been a back-and-forth series that the Flyers prevailed in the final game of, it would not have been as dramatic as completing a historic comeback. There is no right answer here; you make the call.
We get past a pair of Sixers playoff games from the early 80's, and I’ll take the experts’ word for it in those cases, then I’m again intrigued by the placement of the Eagles’ NFC title game blowout over Minnesota in 2018 at #9. This was a fantastic result, but not an objectively great game. So, again, are we going for the overall cathartic nature of a victory, or does drama count just as much?
Next, we’ve got the ‘Body Bag Game’ at #10, and I won’t say anything negative about it because I’m afraid of some old 700 level people beating me up. Then, it’s Game 1 of the 2001 NBA Finals, which PHLY’s site currently says occurred on “June 6, 2021”. Shhh, don’t tell them. This game was iconic but, man, was it spoiled by what happened in the rest of the series as the Lakers took four straight from the Sixers after that. We’ll skip a few more until we get to the Buddy Ryan ‘run up the score’ game. Meh. I wouldn’t have it on the list, and I’m a bit peeved that it sits one slot ahead of the Flyers’ five-overtime win in the 2000 NHL playoffs courtesy of Keith Primeau. I’d have given this one a lot more respect.
We scoot down to #16-#18, which just so happen to be the only three games on this list that Philly teams lost: The Fog Bowl, Joe Carter, and Kawhi’s “triple doink” shot. There is some merit to putting losses on a list just to rile up a fan base because, hey, they were great and memorable games despite the outcome. But I see right through the way that PHLY is ripping off the Band Aid and stacking three setbacks in a row before continuing on with happier times. I guess it’s notable that there are no Flyers losses on this list, which I suppose means that nobody cares about them.
The Shane Victorino grand slam game, the only game on this list that I was actually at, has a decent spot at #19, although I’m a bit surprised it’s ahead of the 1993 NLCS clincher. I’d also push the Miracle at the Meadowlands and Roy Halladay’s playoff no-hitter higher than their current slots of #22 and #23. I do appreciate that they snuck in a 2004 Flyers playoff game at #25, because that was some kind of memorable run.
All in all, I could see the idea and the attempt to represent a wide swath of accomplishments and playoff wins from among the four teams. I don’t know what just missed the cut, but I’m surprised that the 2022 Phillies didn’t appear, nor did the 2004 Eagles. But, this is all meant to get the chatter going, and it seems that PHLY has succeeded in that regard.
The next time someone does Philly sports rankings, I’ll be right here to rank them.
BDN #1, of course. (Mark Humphrey/AP)
Can MV3 Still Win a Third MVP This Year?
The NL Player of the Month is out with an injury but he still has a shot to pull this MVP thing off.
Published July 3, 2024
I fall victim to the “We can’t have nice things” ethos just as much as any Phillies or general Philadelphia fan, and so it wasn’t surprising to see Bryce Harper go on the IL last week right when he was in a torrid hitting stretch where everything was clicking.
It was doubly worse that he hit the IL at the same time as Kyle Schwarber, and triply worse by the fact that J.T. Realmuto is still a couple weeks away from returning from his own ailment. But, barring unforeseen circumstances, all three of these all-star sluggers should be back well in advance of the stretch drive and any postseason baseball that the Phils hope to play this year. Harper’s injury, however, made me look at the bigger picture with him.
Namely, did Harper miss out on a great opportunity to reach the rarified air of claiming his third career MVP and cementing his legend even further? The answer, fortunately, is “not necessarily” because he still has a real shot at this.
Wednesday’s naming of Harper as the NL Player of the Month certainly moves the needle in the right direction, as his 1.166 OPS and 16 RBI were too good for the voters to pass up despite the fact that he missed the Phillies’ final three games of June. Couple this with his Player of the Month award for May (which you may have forgotten about), and now we really have something cooking. It’ll be pretty unlikely that he threepeats in July thanks to his injury and the shortened schedule around the all-star break, but he’s already making it tough for people to ignore how great he has been this year.
Of the most paramount importance, of course, is that he gets back from the IL in a reasonable amount of time. If the Phillies elect to keep him deactivated until the other side of the break, he will have missed 15 games and dipped below the ability to appear in 150 games this season. That hurts, but it’s not case-killing, as long as he doesn’t miss any other stretches this year. Another IL stint would likely sink his chances, largely due to the season that Shohei Ohtani is having with the Dodgers. But that’s just the thing; with Shohei ONLY killing it at the plate and not pitching this year, some people are probably subconsciously holding their vote for someone else, figuring that Ohtani will collect another MVP or two in subsequent years when he is presumably also pitching again. That doesn’t mean Harper is a charity case this year and should win by default, but it’s a very real mentality that could exist.
Bryce also caught a “break” thanks to Mookie Betts’ fractured hand that will ultimately cost him 40 or 50 games. People were already giving Mookie the MVP after the season’s first month, but the truth is that he wasn’t playing all too well in the weeks leading up to his injury, which then kicked the door wide open for Harper. Ultimately, and barring any major health problems with either of them, this will likely come down to a two-horse race between Bryce Harper and Shohei Ohtani. And the Phillies can actually do their future Hall of Famer a favor here if they keep it up and maintain the best record in the National League. Because, once again, voters will likely look at team records at the end of the year. If they see that the Phillies have put up 7 or 8 wins more than the Dodgers, Braves, etc., Harper’s value will be immediately more apparent. If the Phils tail off and end up bunched with or behind the top teams (or somehow blow this NL East lead), then Harper’s case would be wounded critically. Is this totally fair? No. But that’s how it works.
So, get healthy soon, Bryce. And keep up what you’re doing when you return. You still have a good shot to win this. ‘Three-time MVP’ sounds good, and two of those being with the Phillies sounds even better as a legend-cementing feat. This could be his last, best chance at being the absolute top dog. You know the man himself will put everything behind it. The best players are driven in a way that others aren’t.
Who's the MVP? This guy. (Elizabeth Robertson/Inquirer Staff)
I Still Can’t Figure Out Nick Castellanos
This guy is a roller coaster.
Published June 22, 2024
We are just about halfway through the 5-year contract that Nick Castellanos signed with the Phillies before the 2022 season, and I don’t know what to make of him and his ultimate legacy in a Phils uniform.
It’s hard to believe that both Castellanos and Kyle Schwarber, whom the Phillies signed two days before him, have ONLY been with the team for two years and change. Because it feels like an eternity. That doesn’t necessarily have to have a negative connotation to it, as Schwarber has become entrenched with the team and fanbase. That makes sense, given that he whacked 93 dingers over his first two seasons (plus enough playoff bombs to push his two-year total into triple digits). But Castellanos has been a different story.
The guy can look absolutely lost at the plate for weeks at a time, noodle-arming his bat at awful pitches while standing flat-footed. Then, he’ll toss in a game like he had on Saturday, knocking in five runs. After an absolutely putrid start this year, he’s on pace to end up with 20-some home runs, although his RBI total will likely be considerably down from the career high 106 that he had last year. And that’s just it; while MLB hitters are going to be prone to hot and cold streaks, Castellanos takes it to an extreme by being borderline unplayable and then deciding to carry the team for a stretch of time.
Some of this is external, as Castellanos most definitely belongs lower in the lineup and benefits when the Phillies have a full contingent of healthy hitters who can assume their normal spots. It’s unfortunate that J.T. Realmuto went out just as Trea Turner returned, because Castellanos is decently suited to bat sixth or seventh instead of fifth, but it seems like this is what Rob Thomson is rolling with for now. In that vein, I still have no idea why Rob is so fanatically devout to Castellanos, but I’ve accepted it as one of those mysteries that I won’t be able to solve.
Put in a vacuum, Castellanos’ .258 batting average since joining the Phillies and his massive slumps make it seem like the team is getting a poor return on the $100 million they dished out to him. As an aside, however, why do we even care that much, at least in this case? There are worse contracts in baseball, and the $20 million number really isn’t that crippling to what the Phillies are trying to do. The Phillies don’t want to exceed the luxury tax too much, of course, but relative bargains to some other players on the team (Bohm, Suárez, etc.) mean that an overpay to Castellanos isn’t overly concerning.
Maybe Nicky C. is one of those weird “every other year” players, and 2024 is going to be a down year, though not as bad as his debut season for the Phils was in 2022. He still needs to bring the average up, but he should finish with decent totals. And if everyone else stays healthy and productive, he’s perfectly fine to have around as long as he’s not giving away at bats. The Phillies definitely need to have a succession plan in place when his contract runs out in 2026, because he will not be coming back at that point, but he should be playable for almost all of this contract.
This would all be a moot point if the Phillies can get over the hump and win a World Series while Castellanos is on the team. All is forgiven when you get to raise a flag, and the “disappointment” label can be shed. Just ask Pat Burrell. So, yeah, I hope that Nick can get on a hot streak or two to buoy the team and pad his numbers, because his struggles don’t benefit anyone. Rob will not sit him down, and it’s not like they are going to be able to trade him. So let’s at least support him while he’s here, as tough to swallow as it can be sometimes.
The Phillies likely never would have signed Castellanos in the first place had the NL not adopted the switch hitter permanently for the 2022 season, since they signed Schwarber right before him. But they figured they’d load up and ask questions later, and it’s largely worked, especially when they were able to utilize the DH slot for Bryce Harper when he returned from injury last year. Nick Castellanos’ Phillies tenure is kind of a random occurrence, but to his credit at least he stays healthy and he managed to go more than two years without making an error. Part of that is not being able to get to many balls, but still.
Anyway, with all this said, I can’t tell you if Castellanos will crank four home runs in a game this week or will go hitless for the next month. Both are equally likely. In the end, his Phillies career will have a very mixed reception, but he’d be remembered a lot more fondly if the team reaches the pinnacle while he’s part of the crew. Make it happen, Nick.
You did it, Nick! You weren't terrible for an at bat! (Bill Streicher/USA Today)
Sideshow over, time for Phillies to get back to work
I guess London was fun, now there’s business to take care of.
Published June 10, 2024
The Phillies weren’t going to necessarily prove anything if they had swept their 2-game set in London with the messy Mets. Nor would it have been panic time if they had somehow dropped both games to New York. Instead, we were left with the most likely outcome of two teams playing two games against each other — a split — albeit one that left a bad taste in the Phillies’ collective mouths.
With the London excursion and the excitement it brought now behind us, it’s time to focus on the everyday reality of what the Phillies are looking at over the next four months. The Phillies have 97 games to go. 16 of those games will come against the Braves and Dodgers, who look like the only two teams in the NL who can challenge the Phillies the rest of the way. The Phillies do still have all of their remaining games with the Cubs, who could be decent, and they’ve got another series with a Brewers club who will be looking for revenge after the Phillies swept them recently. But the spotlight will shine extra brightly on the five series that the Phils will play against LA and Atlanta in the coming months.
We all know the deal with the Braves, who are missing Ronald Acuña Jr. for the rest of the season. They’re a wounded animal, but they’re still very dangerous, especially when you consider that the likes of Austin Riley and Matt Olson haven’t been up to their usual standards this year. They’ll heat up, and the Braves will make a run. The Phillies will need to tamp that out.
Not as much can be done with the Dodgers, who are once again cruising in an NL West that doesn’t offer them much real competition. Their hitting can’t be matched when it’s clicking on all cylinders, their pitching staff is also beat up but still good, and they will likely be players at the trade deadline as they try to load up to win their first legitimate World Series since 1988 (2020 didn’t count).
But before we even get to all that, this coming week will offer a test right out of the chute from Heathrow. The jet-lagged Phils need to be on their game as they travel to Fenway for a 3-game series with the Red Sox followed by what should be an epic series in Baltimore against those O’s. I’ll be there on Sunday amongst the sell-out throng buoyed by Phillies Nation, and it would be great if the Phillies were aiming to wrap up something like a successful 4-2 trip rather than trying to avoid an abysmal 1-5 swing.
Even if things hit the skids for the Phils, as they basically did during their Colorado/San Fran trip recently, they will take some solace in having 17 games combined against Miami and Washington later this season, although the Nationals aren’t as bad as you think and will be getting better shortly by graduating some top prospects. I guess the real point is, the Phillies should have urgency to win it this year thanks to the Braves’ compromised state and a generally down year across the NL overall.
The London Series was a neat distraction near the middle of the season, but now that the hurdle has been cleared let’s get back to the daily grind of doing the little things right to make sure the big picture comes into focus. The Phils need to take care of business by beating up on the bad teams, even as pundits declare that those wins don’t count for some reason, and then stepping up against better competition like the Braves, Dodgers, Orioles, and the Yankees and Guardians, who are also looming after the all-star break.
It will be fun to see how the Phillies do against contending clubs and how they’ll address any deficiencies by the trade deadline, which is crazily less than eight weeks away. They’ll also be helped out by the return of Trea Turner in the near future, and they’ll hopefully remain at full strength thereafter. It’s sports, so probably not, but we can dream.
It’s disappointing that the Phillies couldn’t pull off the London sweep of the Mets, although it matters more in the historical context of the franchise and for putting a dent in the enjoyment of the fans who made the trip than it will for the actual standings this year. That’s now over after one win and one loss in the standings, we’re “back to normal”, and the Phils need to keep up what they’ve been doing since April.
That was cool, unlike the TV coverage, which was lousy. (Yong Kim/Inquirer Staff)
DeVante Parker, We Hardly Knew Ye
And should we even care?
Published May 21, 2024
When I saw the news “Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeVante Parker retires”, my brain didn’t register it at first. It seemed weird that a guy who the team signed this offseason and who talked about how happy he was to be here just decided to hang them up, seemingly out of nowhere. But then I remembered, oh yeah, this happened last year with Myles Jack. And it previously happened with Marquise Goodwin. And Frank Gore I guess, sort of, although he at least continued his career (seemingly for about 20 years) after.
These guys are a strange subset of would-be Philadelphia athletes who ultimately weren’t. When you do your football Immaculate Grid, don’t dare try to put them down as a Bird. At any rate, this gave me the occasion to “remember some guys” who fell into this category or at least came close. Namely, we’ve had a random collection of guys who either came to town and then never played a game with our local clubs or were here so briefly that it didn’t end up mattering.
Aside from the aforementioned players, the Eagles have had a number of other guys like this in recent years, veteran in-season editions who merely finished that year with the Birds before moving on. Nothing really too out of the ordinary for the NFL, I suppose. As for the 76ers, Andrew Bynum is probably the poster child for this exercise, coming to Philly in a big 2012 offseason trade. But with ongoing knee problems, he appeared in zero games as a Sixer before moving on. Refreshingly, he at least only played 26 more career games after that. The Sixers have also pulled the same move that a lot of other NBA clubs have, trading deliberately for injured guys with no intention of ever having them suit up for their club. Jamal Mashburn leaps to mind for some reason, as he came to the Sixers in a trade when he was clearly too hurt to ever play again. The NBA has some great rules, man.
The Flyers have a long history with this kind of thing. Some of them were trades for veterans who they hoped would help with a playoff run (and didn’t, like Adam Oates), others were signings where they found out the hard way the guy couldn’t play and they stashed him almost immediately in the minors or traded him out of town. And some fall into the ridiculous injury category, like Ryan Ellis (played 4 games then suffered a mysterious career-ending injury that we didn’t hear about for over a year) and Ryan Johansen (acquired as a salary dump but was apparently too hurt to play anyway).
The Phillies are headlined by Danny Tartabull’s legendary tenure in town, all three games of it, and I also like to point to the tale of closer Mike Jackson, who got hurt warming up in the bullpen on opening day and then missed the entire season. It gets less funny when you consider that he actually started his career with the Phillies and had a stint with them over a decade before, but oh well.
And these are just the guys who come to mind pretty immediately. Feel free to message @BigLagowski on X to let me know any obvious ones I forgot. Surely, other towns have this happen too, but there’s something to be said about a Philadelphia sports fan remembering a guy precisely because he spent little to no time on the actual team once he came here.
DeVante Parker, back when he supposedly cared about football. (Chris Franklin, NJ.com)
Is 2024 a Cy Young Year for the Phillies?
With two viable candidates, maybe we’ll see a Phils pitcher win some hardware this year.
Published May 14, 2024
When Roy Halladay cruised to the 2010 Cy Young Award, he became just the fourth Phillies pitcher ever to capture it, joining Steve Carlton (4 times), John Denny, and Steve Bedrosian. But Halladay’s fantastic performance stands as the only time in the last 35 years that a Phils pitcher has won the Cy. 2024, however, brings a couple of options in Zack Wheeler and Ranger Suárez, who just may be able to break through.
With over a quarter of a season gone, both have built strong cases. Let’s start with the more established Wheeler, who has been every bit the workhorse that the Phillies were hoping they’d get when they signed him after the 2019 season. Wheeler stumbled over the weekend in Miami, an uncharacteristic performance that put a dent in his numbers. But he’s still been solid overall.
Even with a bad start his last time out, Wheeler’s 2.53 ERA puts him in the top-20 among qualifying NL pitchers, and his 53.1 innings pitched (tied for 10th) and 65 strikeouts (2nd) certainly help his case. I also can’t help but feel he is ‘owed’ one, as he should have been the Cy Young winner in 2021. He was just as impressive as the ultimate winner, Corbin Burnes, but he threw nearly 50 more innings than Burnes, giving the Phillies greater value. Wheeler has been a bullpen saver and top-of-the-rotation stud for several years now, and at age 34 in just a few weeks, this could be his last best shot to win a Cy Young that he’s been sniffing at for a while.
As for Ranger Suárez, this season has been a revelation. Certainly nobody expects him to keep up this same level, but his start just goes to show you how the Phillies have the ability to throw dominant pitching out there in a short series come playoff time, so let’s hope that Ranger can recreate this come the fall. The first thing that jumps out to you, even though we all know how flawed a pitcher’s record can be, is his sterling 7-0 mark. He leads the NL in wins, and only three other pitchers are even at five victories without a loss yet. Ranger is also baffling hitters to the tune of a .168 batting average against him, second best (behind only Dylan Cease) among NL pitchers.
Suárez also leads the NL in WHIP, coming in at an 0.72 mark that is pretty beyond belief. For the sake of comparison, Pedro Martinez never even kept up a mark that low for a full season, so don’t count on this continuing. But if Ranger can stay below 1.00, it would be a marker of an excellent season. Because he’s been able to keep men off the basepaths, Suárez sports a 1.50 ERA, and he stands a good shot of keeping it in the 2.00s over the course of the whole season since he’s already made a quarter of his starts, if he sticks around for the full slate. (Let’s hope he does.) He also clocks in at 54 innings pitched so far, good for third in the NL, so you have to wonder if the Phillies might get a little cautious at some point, given that his career high in innings pitched for a regular season are the 155.1 that he tossed two seasons ago. Approaching 200 innings may not be the best idea, although it would be really hard to justify skipping a turn or two or sitting him down for a bit if he’s still humming later in the summer.
Is it unrealistic to think that both Wheeler and Suárez will be in the top-5 mix when it comes time to select this year’s Cy Young? Probably. But if they can get over the pesky hump of staying healthy (something that’s already evaded top NL starters like Spencer Strider, Blake Snell, Kodai Senga, Joe Musgrove, and others), their performance indicators show that they can be a powerful 1-2 punch for this team. And yes, this doesn’t even mention Aaron Nola, who just twirled a shutout but will most likely not be in the Cy mix. Prove me wrong, Aaron.
Anyway, Phils fans will hopefully get to enjoy two of their starting pitchers vying for individual hardware this season. Of course, we’d trade it all for another World Series win.
I see two studs. Maybe three? (David Maialetti/Inquirer Staff)
It’s Already World Series or Bust for the Phillies
In the first week of May, expectations are sky high.
Published May 6, 2024
The Phillies were fine sliding in under the radar this year, beneath teams like the Braves and Dodgers in the NL, as well as trendy picks like the Orioles, when it came to handicapping the 2024 World Series. And while it’s true that the Phillies have only played 36 games so far and still have 126 left, make no bones about it. They look like a legitimate World Series contender and, frankly, anything less than getting there (and probably winning it) is now going to be viewed as a disappointment.
We all knew the deal going in, with the Phillies having locked down their top two starters this past offseason but largely remaining quiet when it came to the bullpen and the offense. The hope was that some of these guys would grow into roles, and that perhaps some of the incumbent rotation arms could rise up to support Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola. And that’s exactly what’s happened so far.
Ranger Suarez will come back down to earth at some point, but if he’s anything close to this come playoff time, the Phillies will have an unbeatable triumvirate atop the rotation. Throw in a career year for Alec Bohm and surprising production so far from Brandon Marsh, and the club is 25-11 despite Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber just being ok so far. But they’ll have their various hot stretches, and the team will be even more fearsome at that point. Maybe Nick Castellanos even gets back to his average levels and the lineup rounds into form even more.
Unfortunately, Trea Turner’s recent injury will keep him on the shelf for multiple weeks, and he’ll ultimately end up missing 40-some games. While that stinks for your fantasy team if you were relying on him, is it the worst thing for this club long-term? He can save himself a quarter season’s worth of wear and tear while guys like Edmundo Sosa and Whit Merrifield earn their paychecks holding down the fort until he returns. Granted, the Phillies can’t sustain multiple lengthy injuries to star players, but they’re showing that they’re deep enough to weather the storm when they’re missing someone like Turner.
The Phillies are only going to get so many kicks at the can with Wheeler and Nola atop the rotation, and the same goes for players like JT Realmuto still being productive bats. The likes of Bohm and Bryson Stott offer hope that the next era of Phillies baseball will be fine as well, but all of the pieces are in place right now for this team to win it all. They’re better than they were in 2022 when they were good but got super hot at the right time, and they’re better than they were last year when they duplicated the feat but had no business losing the NLCS. Maybe the injury bug ends up being the great equalizer this season, but even with Turner out the Phillies are still the healthiest of the NL contenders. The Dodgers and Braves are likely to be their only obstacles in October, and the Phillies won’t be shaking in their boots to face either one.
The Phillies have mostly beaten up on bad teams to get to their current MLB-best mark, but that’s what good clubs do. Let’s keep that in mind when they hit a rough patch at some point this year, and let’s be confident that it won’t last too long because this club just seems to have “it”. To their credit, they’ve reached such a level that a World Series is pretty much expected from them. And they’ve put a lot of pressure on themselves in the process. Let’s see if they rise to meet the challenge, or if this goes the way of so many other promising seasons around these parts.
The Phillies are hotter than...something that's really hot. (Eric Hartline/USA Today)
The Sixers Wasted Embiid. Join the Club.
Philly has a Way of Doing These Things
Published April 23, 2024
I don’t write about/watch/think about the 76ers very often, but I have to shake my head at recent developments, as they find themselves in a 2-0 hole to the Knicks (The Knicks are good? Is Patrick Ewing still on the team?) in their first-round series. They probably deserve a better fate, a series split at least, but in typical fashion they came away from MSG empty-handed as they play out the string on what is shaping up to be yet another playoff disappointment.
Which brings me to Joel Embiid. He’s going to the Hall of Fame. He’s one of the best players in franchise history. The Sixers have had a good deal of success and a revitalization with him as their centerpiece, transforming the franchise from a flaming pile of garbage to one of the better teams in the league over the course of Embiid’s career. But that light (or darkness) at the end of the tunnel is coming into sharp focus.
I feel like I’ve been saying for two or three years now, “They have about two more years of peak Embiid, then they have to figure out how to reconfigure this team.” Well, they’re clearly on borrowed time now. There are elements of hope, of course, like Tyrese Maxey. But so many misses along the way, like Ben Simmons and James Harden and Tobias Harris, have just doomed this team to second round cannon fodder for years. And now they’re likely to not even get that far. They’ve really tried to put enough help around Embiid to will this team to a title, or at least the Finals, but it hasn’t worked. It really makes you appreciate Allen Iverson, who literally never had anything around him except for one season, which just so happens to have been the Sixers’ only NBA Finals appearance in the last 40 years.
And that’s where I’m going with this. Philadelphia, by and large, gets its fair share of great players. Yes, we bemoan things, but in the last 35 years, we’ve seen the aforementioned Sixers, plus Charles Barkley, Reggie White, Brian Dawkins, Donovan McNabb, Chase Utley, Roy Halladay, Bryce Harper, Eric Lindros, and Claude Giroux, just to name a few. That’s kind of the law of averages at play, but you get the idea.
Other than Utley, none of those players won a championship in Philadelphia. Just like it’s abundantly clear that Joel Embiid won’t, either. We got greedy and came really close to a few all-time Eagles (Jason Kelce, Fletcher Cox, Lane Johnson, Rick Lovato) winning multiple titles, but they also had to just “settle” for a single championship.
While I realize that it’s very difficult to win it all once, let alone multiple times, is it too much to ask for a star player in this town, if they are truly elite, to put their mark on a couple of title squads? You have to go back to Bernie Parent and Bobby Clarke to meet this standard in Philly sports. Meanwhile, teams in different sports are winning multiple titles all over the place, with depth guys attaining some legend status thanks to earning a pair of rings. Where are our guys like this? We can’t even get Joel Embiid a measly Conference Finals appearance.
Anyway, I’ll just sit here being old, hoping that one of these decades, a local club gets it together and actually takes advantage when there is true greatness in its midst.
Embiid reacts to something going wrong, I'm sure. Shocking. (Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty)
(Mostly) Celebrating 20 Years at Citizens Bank Park
We’ve come a long way since that gloomy loss to the Reds 20 years ago today.
Published April 12, 2024
I’ve been pretty privileged as a Philadelphia sports fan to see some big events in person, and the date of April 12, 2004 definitely sticks out. It was the Phillies’ inaugural game at brand spanking new Citizens Bank Park (I’m not counting the “on deck series” exhibition games they had the week before) and it was the dawn of a new era.
My dad and I stood mere feet from Hall of Famer Robin Roberts and Phils’ broadcaster Scott Graham for the unveiling of Roberts’ statue before that game, figuring we could get way closer to see that one than the reveal of the other statues around the park. We were right. And then it was time for pomp and circumstance and an actual baseball game. The Phillies, in typical fashion, lost that game, but the park started to accumulate its “firsts” (first hit, first home run, etc.) and we were off and running.
CBP (props for keeping the same name for 20 years) was a destination in and of itself for a few years, as good-but-not-good-enough Phillies teams kept the park packed. And then, the breakthrough, with five straight playoff appearances and a World Series triumph and parade (WFC) in 2008.
There were some golden moments in there, and CBP has been made all the richer for it. Doc’s perfect game. Shane Victorino’s grand slam off CC Sabathia (I got to be there for that one). Jimmy Rollins’ walkoff gapper against the Dodgers. It almost seems like Citizens Bank Park created more memorable moments than the Vet did in less than half the time. Of course, the ready availability of everything being broadcast and immortalized on video may have just made it seem this way. In any case, these are the moments that have defined this generation of Phillies fans. And it’s not just limited to the playoffs, as we’ve seen plenty of standout moments, games, and performances during regular season play as well.
But as Philadelphia fans, we have to also incorporate the failures that have occurred. Chief among them is probably the 2011 playoff loss that culminated in Ryan Howard’s injury and the death knell for that era of Phillies baseball. Getting no-hit in the World Series in 2022 is right up there too. Hey, the team is going to lose games, and it’s certainly done its share of that at home over the last two decades.
Let’s return to positivity, however.
Before ultimately losing in that 2022 World Series, the fans re-established CBP as THE place for home field advantage, where the crowd’s love for the Phillies is only matched by their disdain for the visitors. And when Bryce Harper hit the NLCS-clinching home run against San Diego (got to be there that time, too), it felt like another milestone in the stadium’s history. We’re linking generations here, people.
The next era of CBP figures to pile on even more excitement, as we hopefully watch Harper cement his Hall of Fame legacy, young players develop into stars, and if we’re lucky we’ll get to hoist another flag or five. Not the dumb ‘wild card appearance’ one, though. And let’s not forget, Citizens Bank Park will finally host the MLB All-Star Game in 2026. You could be forgiven if you didn’t remember that, since they announced it five whole years ago. But pretty soon they’ll be pumping the tires on that. I’m frankly surprised I haven’t heard much yet. Season tickets will probably max out and you’ll be paying premiums to go to games, unfortunately. Good for the team, bad for some fans if they only have time to get to a random smattering of games. It’s all part of the deal, though.
Anyway, happy 20th birthday to Citizens Bank Park, and here’s to many more years of success for the Phillies within its friendly confines, even if they’re wearing those City Connect jerseys.
More of this please, Phillies. (AP/Matt Slocum)
April Fools’ DECADE in Philadelphia Sports
It’s like someone has been playing a cruel joke on us all along.
Published April 1, 2024
Look, I know that the sports teams in a given city will take turns alternating between being good and bad. And it comes on various levels. Maybe they’re actually good but choke in the playoffs constantly, or maybe they’re just run-of-the-mill bad and fail to make the playoffs with any kind of regularity. Or perhaps they’re legitimately awful and don’t inspire any kind of hope.
In Philly, we get all of that, and it comes in waves. Just look at the pranks we’ve had pulled on us this decade alone (I was thinking of actually going back ten years, but I’ll just return to the start of this decade, 2020. What a time to be alive.)
Look at the Sixers. They’ve been “good” this whole decade, and they’ve only needed that one missing piece to go alongside Joel Embiid’s dominance. At the end of last decade, they made the wrong choice, letting Jimmy Butler go. And it’s been a comedy of errors and second round playoff exits since. Now, with Embiid out, they’ve been exposed as one of the worst teams in the league, just a shell around Tyrese Maxey. And don’t even bring up how James Harden’s tenure played out or how much of a bust Tobias Harris has been. Joke’s on us.
This decade started with a lot of promise for the Phillies, thanks to Bryce Harper, Zack Wheeler, and J.T. Realmuto having just come aboard. After fizzling for a few years, everything finally came into place during the 2022 playoffs, and the Phillies had the Astros on the ropes in the World Series. But, instead of just a garden variety playoff series loss, we were served up a no-hitter against the Phils in Game 4 and then a few games of popgun offense that doomed the team at the worst time. Whoever scripts these things doubled down in 2023, letting the Phillies choke away the NLCS to an inferior team, thanks to some of the worst crunch time performances you’ve ever seen on the diamond. It’s been a thrilling few years, but somewhere in the backs of all of our minds, we are fully expecting three or four more consecutive playoff exits just like this.
For the Flyers, they were red hot in early 2020…then the world shut down. They finally “won a round” during the fake bubble playoffs, but the four calendar years since have been an absolute slog to get back to respectability. They finally got things right this season, but they might be too “gassed” to reach the finish line. Missing the playoffs for the fourth straight season is on the table unless they can figure things out in a hurry. Throw in some of the oddest medical mysteries you’ve ever seen PLUS the fact that their supposed franchise goalie will probably never play in the NHL again, and this decade feels like more of a curse than a joke. Although, that’s basically every decade for this team.
And then there are the Eagles, Super Bowl champs last decade, who have had a productive few years in the 2020s but haven’t re-ascended the throne yet. Of course they lost to their old coach in heart-breaking fashion in their return trip to the Super Bowl, essentially because of a controversial penalty (but also the defense’s inability to stop anything, I know I know). They came back strong the next year, only to put up what has to be the most stunning extended two-month collapse in NFL history. Now, their veteran star players are either retiring or being traded. The biggest fools now might be fans who think this team can make any noise next season, but who knows at this point.
Anyway, keep your sports-related jokes to yourselves, because the stuff we’ve seen from the local Philadelphia teams over the past few years are more head-shakingly unbelievable than the fiction you can come up with. I’d like to say we won’t get fooled again, but we will.
One of the many "ugh, this guy"s we've dealt with in recent years. (Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE/Getty)
Is this the Stretch Where the Flyers Finally Fall Apart?
Because it’s sure looking like it.
Published March 18, 2024
In the ebbs and flows of the NHL season, or any sport really, you’ll have your stretches against weaker competition, some balanced areas, and some portions of the schedule where it just seems like the league has it out for you by throwing an unrelenting barrage of difficult opponents your way. Unfortunately, as we find ourselves with less than a month to go until the NHL regular season concludes, the Flyers are grappling with this last category.
They’ve been wobbly for weeks, and we all knew this 7-game sequence was coming, a brutal stretch that includes two matchups with the Maple Leafs and two with the Bruins, as well as single affairs against the Hurricanes, Panthers, and Rangers. Quality teams all. These are the clubs that the Flyers need to gain points against to legitimize themselves as a playoff club, because you can’t always rely on the Senators and Blue Jackets appearing to offer up an easy two points for you.
Predictably, this 7-game test has gotten off to a sour start with a pair of losses. And it’s been just about as bad as it could be. The Flyers weren’t ready to play when the puck dropped last Thursday in their 6-2 loss at home to Toronto, then they were outgunned by the Bruins, as always, in the 6-5 loss they suffered in Boston on Saturday. The Flyers showed a lot of grit to almost rally from three goals down, but there are no pity points for “almost”. They simply have to get some wins out of this stretch against these good teams.
As of this moment, the Flyers are still sitting in a playoff position, and they’ve actually occupied one for this entire calendar year. But I don’t know how, because it seems like they are merely the benefactors of dumb luck. The Capitals and Islanders are both nipping at their heels for third place in the Metropolitan Division, but neither has managed to overtake the Flyers just yet. And the Red Wings, who could be the Flyers’ main competition for the second wild card spot if it comes down to that, have gone ice cold, losing eight of their last nine. Any kind of competent play over that stretch by the Wings would have the Flyers on thin ice by now. Similarly, the Devils and Penguins look like they have run out of time to catch the Flyers, although you can chalk that up to their own uninspired play rather than the Flyers actively doing anything to increase the distance between them.
Let’s just hope that when the Flyers come out the other side of this stretch, they are still treading water. If they end up going something like 0-6-1 (and they’re already 0-2), it might be the death knell of their season. Because even though softer competition is looming later on (Blackhawks, Blue Jackets, Canadiens), the Flyers are not likely to benefit much longer from seemingly every team below them dragging along. A couple of these teams are going to get hot, and the Flyers need to stay ahead of the game. A win or two in their rematches versus Toronto and Boston would be a great start, and the other stiff tests have to be met with better efforts that what the Flyers have shown for the last week and a half, going back to their 7-0 embarrassment in Tampa that got John Tortorella a 2-game suspension.
We’ve said it before, but now is the time. It’s not ideal that the Flyers’ defense is ravaged by injuries (and the Sean Walker trade) at the moment, but the guys who are here have to get the job done. And maybe Sean Couturier can show some signs of life (zero goals, 3 assists in 14 games since being named captain). He’s not the only one who can put a spark into the offense (looking at you and your 5-game goal drought since returning from injury, TK), but a rebound from him would be big.
I’ll make the prediction now that if the Flyers wake up on Wednesday, March 27th in a playoff spot after this tough stretch is over, they’ll maintain it for the final nine games and make the postseason. And if they’ve played themselves out of it by then, unfortunately I believe it’ll stay that way.
The pressure is on.
The Flyers give up one of the many goals we've seen in their net recently. (Michael Dwyer/AP)
A History (There's Not Much) of Leap Day in Philly Sports
Because February 29th comes once every four years, so I can re-use this in 2028.
Published February 29, 2024
Well, it’s a bit of a lull right now, although things will get busier soon when it comes to pro sports in this town. So, with time to spare and on such a unique occasion, we might as well examine how February 29th has looked through the lens of Philadelphia pro sports history (I’m sure there is college stuff too, but we won’t get into that.)
With February 29th falling during neither football nor baseball season, the 76ers became Philly’s first pro team to play on Leap Day back on February 29, 1964. And they lost, of course. In their first season after relocating from Syracuse, the Sixers took on the Cincinnati Royals on that day at the Scranton Catholic Youth Center in what I’m sure was a barnburner. The Royals won 117-114 behind 43 points from Oscar Robertson.
The Sixers would have to wait 12 years to taste Leap Day victory for the first time, as they beat Seattle at the Spectrum on 2/29/1976. This kicked off a curious string of 11 straight leap years where the Sixers would play on February 29th. They’d notch wins in 1980, 1984, 1988 (over Michael Jordan’s Bulls), and 1992. Pretty impressive. But they were sunk by Hakeem Olajuwon’s 42 points in a 2/29/1996 loss to the Rockets to snap their 5-Leap Day win streak. They’d follow that up with wins in 2000 and 2004, but losses in 2008, 2012, 2016. They did not play on 2/29/2020 and won’t hit the hardwood this year, either. To date, their Leap Day record stands at 7-5.
As for the Flyers, there is far less to draw from, as they’ve only played six times on Leap Day in team history, putting up a record of 3-3. The results:
- 2/29/1968 - In the Flyers’ inaugural season, they lost 3-1 to the Kings in LA.
- 2/29/1976 - The Flyers make it a Spectrum Leap Day sweep (reference the Sixers’ win vs Seattle as mentioned above), as they beat the California Golden Seals 6-1. Bobby Clarke and Bill Barber each tally three points.
- 2/29/1984 - The Flyers go into Edmonton and beat Wayne Gretzky and the Oilers 5-3. Two more Leap Day points for Bill Barber.
- 2/29/2000 - The Flyers lose 3-2 in St. Louis. Future Flyer captain Chris Pronger scores the winning goal for the league-leading Blues.
- 2/29/2004 - A 4-2 loss to the Red Wings, despite the Flyers receiving a goal from birthday boy Simon Gagne.
- 2/29/2016 - The Flyers beat the Flames 5-3 at the Wells Fargo Center. Brayden Schenn scores his first career hat trick, and a bra ends up on the ice. Only on Leap Day, I suppose.
That’s it for actual games. As you’d expect, it’s about as bare as “on this date” can get. But we’ll end by talking about the scant few Philadelphia sports Leap Day birthdays:
- The aforementioned Simon Gagne (born 2/29/1980) is the only Leap Day player to ever suit up for the Flyers. He’s second all-time in NHL points by someone born on Leap Day, well back of Hall of Famer Henri Richard.
- The immortal Vonteego Cummings (born 2/29/1976) is the only Sixer to blow out candles on Leap Day.
- The Eagles’ Al Clark (1948) and John Niland (1944) celebrated on February 29th, as well.
- And the Phillies, in their long history, have only had a single player who was born on February 29th. If you guessed 1920s infielder Ralph Miller (born 2/29/1896), then congratulations to you.
See you in four years.
Depending how you look at it, Simon Gagne is either a 44-year old man or 11-year old kid. (Getty)
It’s a Big Time “Prove It” Weekend for the Flyers
Two games against division rivals, don’t screw it up.
Published February 22, 2024
The Flyers got back in the win column on Wednesday night with a 3-1 victory over the corpse of the Chicago Blackhawks, who are speeding toward another first overall pick. But the Flyers are having quite a year, as they are sitting in what appears to be a comfortable playoff spot with just 25 games to go. A good performance this weekend could do wonders to cement that status, just as a bad showing might send everyone into a tizzy yet again.
Let’s have a look.
First Chance to Prove It: Saturday afternoon, home vs the Rangers.
The Flyers were actually right on the Rangers’ heels a few weeks ago, but the Flyers’ swoon just before the all-star break put an end to that. Still, while the Flyers aren’t going to catch the Rangers in the standings down the stretch this year, a victory over their New York nemeses would do wonders for this team’s confidence, as well as for the fans. As I wrote earlier this season, the Flyers really should use the Rangers as a gauge for whether or not they’re ready for prime time in the here and now. Unfortunately, things didn’t go so great for the Flyers in the clubs’ first meeting this year, as the heavily hyped Black Friday matinee was a flat 3-1 loss for the Flyers. They fell behind early, and that was that. Saturday is a chance for redemption for the Orange and Black, though.
The Rangers have mopped the floor with the Flyers of late, winning 8 of the last 9 meetings. And they’ve also won five straight games in Philadelphia. It’s time for this to end. To make this 2023-24 campaign a real turnaround, the Flyers have to start consistently skating with the best teams in the Eastern Conference. They keep failing against clubs like the Bruins, and that will need to be addressed if we are going to get serious. But this match with the Rangers is a chance for them to make a statement as we enter the final six weeks of the NHL season. The Flyers have a pretty good list of wins against top Western teams this year: 2-0 AND 4-1 over Vancouver, 4-3 in OT over Vegas, 5-2 over Colorado, 2-0 over Winnipeg, 5-1 over Dallas. But the Rangers are an immediate obstacle, and a big effort here would mean more than all of the W’s against the West.
Second Chance to Prove It: Sunday afternoon at the Penguins
The Penguins are hanging by a thread. With just weeks to go before the trade deadline, they are teetering right at the precipice, just waiting to be nudged into ‘seller’ mode when it comes to Jake Guentzel and others. Wouldn’t it be sweet if the Flyers could drive the final nail into their coffins? It won’t be easy, since the Penguins will have last played on Thursday night and will be laying in wait at home for the Flyers, who have to scoot across the Keystone State for the back-to-back. But maybe that’ll work to the Flyers’ advantage. Who knows?
Over two months ago, the Flyers took both ends of a home-and-home with the Pens, although both games went to extra time. This time, a win in regulation for the Flyers would be absolutely crushing for Pittsburgh and might be the final blow that gets them to wave the white flag on their season. The NHL season is a slow grind, and it’s often about outlasting teams. By ensuring that their hated rival won’t even be sniffing the playoffs, the Flyers can take a big step here. Teams get picked off one by one, and this in particular would be fantastic.
It’s all in front of the Flyers this weekend, with two big games on tap. Come Monday morning, things can look absolutely great, feel like a mess once again, or be somewhere in between. They have to bring it in these two divisional games.
The Flyers and Penguins will renew acquaintances in the 'Burgh on Sunday. (Gene J. Pusker/AP)
Having “Fun” with the Toyota Turning Point®
Am I the only one who likes to identify the exact moment when things went south?
Published February 7, 2024
All credit to the good folks at Toyota, who make a quality product (my 1995 Corolla is probably still out there chugging along, years after I traded it in) and have partnered with local sports networks over the years to present the Toyota Turning Point®. For a long time, this has been a part of team broadcasts, so much so that I can’t even identify if it’s still an active sponsorship or just is so burned into my brain that it seems that way. (They do have the dumb ‘Rav 4 minutes to play’ during Flyers games, though.)
At any rate, I became so acculturated to it that I like to identify the Toyota Turning Point® on my own in various games and even entire seasons. Heck, if you ask me, I can even point to it after my own floor hockey games or pretty much any event that passes. All the while, I instinctively put the Toyota moniker in there, because that’s just good branding.
I bring all this up because I figured we would check in with the Philly sports teams and identify some current Toyota Turning Points®.
For the 76ers, the glaring example is the Joel Embiid injury. If he doesn’t come back at all this year, or if he comes back in a diminished capacity, this team is not winning a title. They might not even achieve their typical second round flameout. And it has the potential to be a Toyota Turning Point® for the franchise as whole if he can’t eventually get back to his dominant self. I’ve seen this movie before, and it usually doesn’t end well.
Going back to the 2023 Phillies season, the Toyota Turning Point® to propel the team was most likely the Trea Turner standing ovation that got all kinds of attention and seemed to coincide with the club coming alive. Then, of course, it all came crashing down in the NLCS. There was probably a Toyota Turning Point® in there, but I’ve honestly wiped the last five games of that series from my brain entirely. Does not compute.
For the current Flyers, their gutty win on Tuesday night in Florida was badly needed, as it stopped a 5-game losing skid which went back almost three weeks thanks to a lengthy layoff for their bye week and the all-star break. It remains to be seen if they can round back into shape, or if the victory was a mere bright spot in a bad run that will doom their season. If that’s the case, you can point squarely at the ‘Carter Hart stuff’ as their Toyota Turning Point®, since it was the kind of thing that can absolutely demoralize a tight-knit locker room like they seem to have. On the ice, Hart’s final game (probably ever) a few weeks ago against Colorado ended up kicking off their losing streak. Maybe it was just coincidental how poorly he played mere days before leaving the team, but feel free to speculate on that one.
For the Eagles, I’m going to blame their security chief Big Dom ItalianLastName for the team falling off a cliff. Is this ridiculous? Yes. But let’s look at his sideline incident in the December 3rd loss to the 49ers as a clear dividing line here. The Eagles were likely on their way to losing that game anyway, as they were down 21-6 and not looking great. But this was a team that came in at 10-1 and was looking to take a stranglehold on the NFC. Following the Big Dom/Dre Greenlaw confrontation, the Eagles proceeded to go 1-6 (including the result of the SF game and their playoff loss), and were outscored 193-126. The Big Dom ejection was clearly the Toyota Turning Point® of this season for the Birds. Am I saying that their security czar was somehow responsible for their stunning collapse? I’m not saying it, and I’m not not saying it.
I may devote some future space to other notable Toyota Turning Points® in Philly sports history, but I figured that we’d just start with current situations.
So, does all this mean that a Toyota Turning Point® in any given season has to be the exact instance where a team’s season plunged toward ultimate failure instead of a championship, where fate stepped in and dictated “this isn’t your year” even when there were probably still games left to play? Eh, maybe. That’s pretty bleak as a sports fan, to only focus on something negative as a pivotal moment. After all, your odds to win it all in a given year are something like 2-3%, depending on the size of the league, if everyone has a theoretically equal shot. Yes, sports are overwhelmingly ridden with failure, so why not try to remember positives instead of critical negative moments? The bad stuff sticks with us, though. I guess that’s just the way a typical sports brain works, or maybe it’s specific to Philadelphia, to try and rationalize and point to an exact spot where us informed fans knew that it was over for our team.
Sports are so fun.
This had the potential to be memorable in a fun way, but it wasn’t. Poor Big Dom. (Mitchell Leff/Get
Setting the Philly Sports Scene for 2024
Hi! It’s been a while.
Published January 19, 2024
No, I don’t do much for this site anymore, but that’s because I’ve been busy writing Phillies pieces on ThatBallsOuttaHere.com, Flyers pieces on BroadStreetBuzz.com, and even contributed some longer articles last year to a Phillies substack. Plus, I work and have kids and other stuff going on, so you know how it is.
But even when this site is seemingly dormant, I’m always mulling things over when it comes to Philadelphia sports. We’re only a few weeks into 2024, so maybe we still have time to look at the rest of this calendar year and see what’s on the horizon for our beloved clubs. Obviously, a lot has happened already, with the Eagles suffering the most predictable playoff fate in sports history, the Flyers absolutely sizzling, and the Sixers winning some of their games and losing others. At least, I assume that’s what they’re doing; you are probably aware that I don’t follow basketball all that much. Meanwhile, the Phillies continue to have a pretty quiet offseason, outside of re-signing Aaron Nola to a mega-deal months ago.
Let’s talk about the Birds first to get them out of the way.
This team looked so primed to be a juggernaut, but now it pretty much seems like the sky is falling. It seems incomprehensible for a team to come so close to a title, fall off the cliff the way that they did, and then recover with the same group of players and/or coaches. This core is getting blown up, whether it’s through a combination of Jason Kelce retiring (maybe?), AJ Brown complaining his way out of town, Jalen Hurts being exposed, or any number of other factors. In the 2022 season, everything went right, they stayed healthy, and they were one lousy call away from hoisting the Lombardi Trophy. You saw the cracks in 2023 when any kind of adversity struck. I am not optimistic for 2024. This looks like a 7- or 8-win team unless something unforeseen happens. I hope I’m wrong.
The Fly Guys. Wow. They’re playing solid hockey, the goaltending and defense is good, and they’re scoring insane goals. Where did this come from? Before the year, I saw some merit in the ‘tank brigade’ mode of thinking. Be bad, get those high picks, and let’s build for a few more years. But you can’t take a season like this for granted. I see legitimate playoff excitement in our future this spring at the Wells Fargo Center, and room for growth beyond that. Did this screw up the “rebuild”? I’m not sure, but it’s nice when your team comes out and wins games, especially when it’s the kind of demolishing like they delivered on Dallas on Thursday. If you’re going to complain about that, stop being a fan.
The Sixers. Hey, they’re — (looking it up) — 26-13. That’s pretty good. On pace for 50+ wins. Embiid looks great, so I hear. I’m just going to assume that they’ll lose in six games in the second round until I see otherwise, though.
And the Phillies. The Eagles sure let them off the hook, eh? This is still a good team, though, and they should win 90+ games and will likely land in a wild card spot once again. What matters is just staying healthy and getting to the playoffs, and then anything can happen. I think they merit the normal amount of excitement for this upcoming season. Let’s hope they make a few roster moves to shore things up and bring some bedlam back to the Bank in the fall.
While I’ll keep up my Flyers and Phillies work on the other sites I write for, my very late New Year’s Resolution is that I will make a more dedicated effort to put new material right here with far more regularity in 2024 than I have over the last couple years. And that’s more of a guarantee than any of the local clubs can give you in 2024.
We're all wondering if we'll see this dude on the field ever again. (Phelan Ebenhack/AP)