Philadelphia Phillies: A Cinderella Story
The Philadelphia Phillies have shocked the world by making it to the 2022 World Series. The improbable NL Champions were slotted as the final wildcard spot and ranked third in the NL East. The Phillies have truly taken on the underdog mentality the Eagles exhibited in 2017 and have had one of the most magical runs in Philadelphia history. The Philadelphia natives have endured their fair share of adversity to get to where they are today, both as a team and individually. The Phillies have yet to win the World Series, but a win would solidify what has been one of the grittiest seasons in MLB history.
The Phillies were set for a solid 2022 run after signing power hitters in Nick Castellanos and Kyle Schwarber to long term deals. Joe Girardi came into 2021 as the Phillies manager, entering his third year with the team after a decade run with the Yankee’s. Philly’s high hopes for the season were squandered early on as Girardi and the Phil’s would start 22-29, including an abysmal 4-10 record in one-run games. The poor start led to Girardi’s firing in June, as Dave Dombrowski, the Phillies President of Baseball Operations, had seen enough. Dombrowski named Rob Thomson as interim manager, who worked his way up the Yankee’s coaching ladder and served as Phillies bench coach the last couple seasons. While Thomson didn’t have any previous managerial experience, he quickly won over the trust of the clubhouse and the loyal Philly fans. After he took over the Phillies hit a hot streak, winning 14 of their next 16 games, going an impressive 40-20 in his first sixty.
While Thomson’s promotion galvanized the team, the season was riddled with inconsistent plays. The Phillies would lose meaningful offensive pieces in Jean Segura and Bryce Harper for a major part of the year. Bryce Harper, Philly’s superstar hitter, missed 63 games after a 97 mph fastball broke his thumb and nearly ended his season. Harper would still end with a .286 batting average, but would earn his lowest OPS since 2016 with .877. Furthermore, key players such as Rhys Hoskins, Nick Castellanos and Kyle Schwarber had their fair share of statistical regressions. Hoskins obtained the lowest OPS of his career with a .794, which included a pitiful performance in April where he posted a .672 OPS and only 2 homers. While Schwarber would hit an astounding 46 bombs this year and earn his second all-star selection, he posted a career high 200 strikeouts along with a subpar .218 batting average. Nick Castellanos was quite undoubtedly the most disappointing, as he earned a .694 OPS with only 13 homers, including his worst batting average since 2015. A mix of key injuries and underperforming players led to what was a hard fought 87-75 finish for a team battling adversity.
An underwhelming regular season led to low expectations for the seventh seed team. After Philly secured their playoff ticket on October 3rd they have been lights out. They entered the wildcard round against a ninety-three win St. Louis' team led by legendary hitter, Albert Pujols. After being down 2-0 going into the top of the ninth, the Phillies answered with six runs off two timely hits by Jean Segura and Brandon Marsh, ending with a 6-3 Phillies win. The Phillies then came in and swept the Cardinals with a 2-0 victory in game two powered by a Bryce Harper dinger.
The Phillies would enter the NLDS against their NL East foe and defending champs, the Atlanta Braves. The Braves had a loaded lineup headed by perennial all-star Ronald Acuna along with a star-studded pitching staff, including Max Fried and Spencer Strider. The Phillies entered game one with their young gun Ranger Suarez, giving him his first postseason start of his career. He posted five K’s in three innings, helping the Phillies score a 7-6 win in game one. The Phillies dropped game two to the defending champs before they came back home to Citizen Banks Park for the next two. In their first two home postseason games in eleven years, the Phillies outscored the Braves 17-4 and secured their ticket to the NLCS with relative ease.
In the NLCS the Phillies would face the high-powered San Diego Padres, led by premier players Juan Soto, Manny Machado, Joe Musgrove and Yu Darvish. The two would split 1-1 in San Diego, with the Phillies taking game one in a pitching duel that ended with a score of 2-0. Back in Philly, the NLCS would have a similar ending to the Phillies and Braves in the NLDS. The Phillies offense produced 18 runs including 3 clutch home runs by Rhys Hoskins. In fitting fashion, Bryce Harper launched the game ending two-run bomb in the bottom of the eighth to send the Fightin’ Phil’s to their first World Series since 2009.
This historic postseason run has been fueled by big time players making big time plays in big time situations. Bryce Harper has hit 6 home runs with an astounding 1.242 OPS including 13 RBI’s. Rhys Hoskins had a powerful postseason with 6 dinger’s that charged the Phillies NLCS success. Nick Castellanos has made up for his poor 2022 campaign by making three pivotal catches in the NLDS, NLCS and World Series. Whether it's one of these guys, or JT Realmuto hitting the game winning shot in game one of the World Series, the Phillies have had no shortage of game changing hits.
While second place doesn’t get remembered, this playoff has truly been one of the grittiest in recent times. The Phillies have battled adversity all year and have taken out three National League powerhouses to get to where they are today. Whether you're from Philadelphia or not, it’s got to be hard to not root for your 2022 Cinderella story.