Am I Too Tough on the 2023 Phillies? No, Toughen Up!

I know our own Pat Egan as a very passionate and informed fan of the Philly sports teams. On Fridays show he informed me that “I’m too tough on the Phillies”. He’s a bright guy and so I tried to be introspective about it. Am I too tough on the Phillies for the NLCS loss in 2023? Let’s look at how other teams that fall short get referenced in this city…

After upsetting the heavily favored Braves in the NLCS, they lost a nail biter series in the bottom of the 9th of Game 6 in the World Series. Death threats and vandalization of Mitch Williams house and decades of critique of manager Jim Fregosi followed.

This was a team that fell short losing the NBA Finals to the Lakers that actually DESERVES a strong round of applause. They were a rag tag bunch that Allen Iverson carried on his back to the brink of a championship. They earned the romanticization they get.

Andy Reid in 2001 got the Eagles to St. Louis where they had the ball in their hands with a chance to get to the Super Bowl. They failed, but it was a feel good underdog story. The next season, they closed out the Vet with an ass-whooping against the Buccaneers. There were no excuses about how it was still a great ride. By the time they lost the NFC Championship Game against the Panthers for the trifecta, the fans were harder on the Eagles and their head coach than anything in recent memory.

What do fans talk about when referring to that disappointment? The top two answers are the three interceptions Donovan McNabb threw and whether he puked in the huddle or not.

After a disappointing regular season, they came back to take the lead in the title game against the Arizona Cardinals. It was a collapse against a mediocre team and maybe their biggest wasted chance ever.

These were teams with better rosters than the 2008 Phillies, a team that actually closed the deal. Each one was a crushing disappointment, and the latter two were many times referred to as choking.

An underachieving team that backed into the playoffs finally played up to their potential and jumped out to a 2-1 lead (with two home games remaining) in the World Series. The Astros threw a combined no-hitter at Citizens Bank Park in Game 4. The bats went dead. They managed just nine hits and three runs over the final three defeats. It was a great Fall but an epic collapse.

It was a great run and a loss in the last minute of the game. Were fans OK with it? Ask Jonathan Gannon and the players who got blamed for the loss. Strangely, fans rarely mention the costly fumble by Jalen Hurts.

As if on rewind from 2022, the biggest names and the biggest bats coughed up a 3-2 series lead going home to Citizens Bank Park. No excuses are valid for the NLCS loss we saw from the 2023 Phillies.

Nope, fans choose to shield their favorites from criticism.