With the 2023 Major League Baseball season coming to an end, the playoffs are here, with the National League champion Philadelphia Phillies returning again. The playoffs are bound to get interesting. Since 2011, the Phillies have been to the playoffs twice, 2022 and 2023. In 2022, the Phillies looked like another team to miss the playoffs, but with the addition of a sixth spot in the Wild Card, the Phillies came in sixth and last place for the Wild Card. The Phillies managed to fight all the odds against them, and became National League champions, falling to the American League champions and World Series champions, the Houston Astros in six games. Now fast forward to 2023, the Phillies had a rocky start in May winning only 10 of their 26 games. With fans angry and money not talking, the Phillies were looking scared. Bryce Harper was on the IR list for Tommy John Surgery, Trea Turner was in the worst slump of his life, and the pitching staff couldn’t bring it together.
At the start of September, the Phillies ranked first of the six Wild Card teams eventually leading to a Philadelphia Phillies and Pittsburgh Pirates match up to clinch first place in the Wild Card with a victory of the series. With the Phillies surprising playoff berth in 2022, the Phillies broke baseball with their all offense style playbook. Picking up bats such as Kyle Schwarber, Nick Castellanos, and Brandon Marsh. The Phillies really did break baseball with this offensive experiment, showing that if you have the right offense, you can win games. The irony of the 2023 season really gives Phillies fans hope for this postseason. When the Phillies won the 1980 World Series, their regular season record was 90 and 72. In 2008, the Phillies regular season record was 90 and 72. Now, come 2023, the Phillies regular season record is 90 and 72. So, some can argue that history is going to repeat itself or a new dynasty is beginning,
At the end of the day, we’ll never know where the 2023 postseason is going to take them. As of October third, 2023 the Phillies are set to play the Miami Marlins in a best of three Wild Card series. As the Phillies fans hope for every year, “this could be our year.”
