“Time heals all wounds.” Nope. Not true. Not all wounds. Most wounds, maybe, but not all wounds. Not this one. It’s not “gonna be okay.” There isn’t “light at the end of the tunnel.” And, there sure as salt aren’t any “silver linings” to how this Phillies season just ended. This one will be with us forever like an unmoving storm cloud hovering in the corner of our world for the rest of time. Is that just the moment talking? Is that overdramatic? If you think so, ask yourself this: Who’s Joe Carter? Who’s Joe Jurivicius? Who’s Ty Shine? If you feel like I feel, you know there’s a place where we bury all these things. They don’t get better. They don’t hurt less. They don’t “make us stronger.” They just f**king suck. That’s all. They f**king suck.
This wasn’t a team that gave it its all and just fell short. This isn’t a team that just lost to a better team or lost a tough, hard-fought series to a worthy adversary. This was THE team. This was THE year. And, we just pissed away a series to an 84-win team that would have been perfectly content to have made the NLCS ahead of schedule and probably would have cheered us on in the World Series. And, now that team will be playing next week for a World Series title. Brandon Pfaadt will start a World Series game and not Zack Wheeler. Tommy Pham will be getting World Series at-bats instead of Bryce Harper. And, I say all of this with a healthy respect for what the D’backs just did and for the promising, young roster that they have put together. Congrats to them. They played really well when it mattered most, and, while I probably won’t be strong enough to watch it, I wish them luck against the Rangers. But, the sad part of all of this is that the team that just prematurely ended what could have been one of the greatest seasons in Philadelphia sports history is simply a mediocre baseball team. A mediocre baseball team that just ripped out my f’ing heart and stomped all over it…
I am 44 years old, and this doesn’t get any easier. It’s time to admit that it never will. My 10-year old son is not taking this well at all, and the father part of me looks at him and wants to think “poor guy. I get it. I really do. Just try to enjoy the privilege of youth where silly sports teams are the most important thing in your life.” But, I can’t do that because the non-father part of me IS that “poor guy.” Because I am not taking this well…at all. Maybe we true Philadelphians are just a bunch of 10-year old children with these silly sports teams of ours. Ya, maybe…because this hurts…a LOT. Too much? Probably. Is there anything we can do about that? Am I going to “grow up?” I guess not…
I just watched 150+ baseball games of a team that – after two months of uninspired mediocrity – was one of the two best teams on the planet and then eliminated the other one in a heavyweight, establish-your-dominance Division Series for the second straight year. This was The Team. This was The Year. I have never seen a team – in any year in any sport – that so resonated with the fanbase. We were along for this ride. The clubhouse was the best clubhouse I have ever seen. They played for each other. They played for the city. They played for US! They played for us. They. Played. For. Us. This is my favorite version of my favorite sports team. I love this team. And, I always will. But, it feels a little hollow now. It is not. But, it feels that way. And, we can NEVER get back what we lost last night. This isn’t a Week Six Eagles loss where you say “they’ll learn from this and fix it. This isn’t a “young team that could use the playoff reps.” This is a team that was built to win a championship and ready to win a championship. Sure, they might go on to win the next three World Series and it won’t be “2023 catapulted us to this.” It will be “this is awesome, but it should have been four.” There is nothing good to come from this. This just flat-out sucks.
And, it is going to hurt forever. I wish it didn’t, but it will. There will be other days. There will sure as sh*t be better days. But, this day? Ya, this day will always be terrible. Always.
