Stone cold loser stuff from the Phillies, starting with the manager, mid-summer.
Textbook case for how NOT to manage a team with a big divisional lead. So obviously wrongheaded that you were gaslit into thinking it made sense.
“Health is most important.”
So you don’t pinch hit Bryce Harper in a big moment on his rest day.
So you don’t pinch hit JT Realmuto on his rest days.
So you don’t try for the #1 seed even though you have the best home field advantage in baseball.
The antithesis of one-game-at-time. With questionable decision making along the way.
Team played entitled for three months, turned it on for two weeks when the division got slightly less certain, and then coasted to the finish line.
All the while, bad habits crept in, team lost their edge, and played “situational baseball” for a grand total of 3 games in September to show they ostensibly still could.
“LOOK LOOK, we made Johan bunt. TWICE!”
“Trea Turner stole a base!”
Now you’re facing the multiverse version of yourself from 2022, and players have no idea how to compete.
The bullpen looks like they’ve never seen a one run game.
The hitters have just THE WORST at bats.
They can’t run the bases.
And somehow Austin Hays is on the TV screen.
This isn’t MLB’s fault. The Phillies have been unserious for months, and now they need to find the switch and flip it, or the most disappointing season since… the Eagles last year… is upon us.