The Phillies “phantastical” season ended quickly in the playoffs. If you asked any baseball fan at the beginning of the season, they would have told you that the Phillies were going to the World Series this year. That was not the case though, despite everyone’s high hopes.

The playoffs, also called the “postseason” and affectionately named “Red October” by Phillies fans, seemed to start off well, as the Phillies  won the NL East, the National League East, which means they were the best in their subdivision. They also nearly tied the entire NLCS, the National League Championship Series. Phillies fans everywhere were wearing “We Own the East” shirts to show their support during the postseason. 

Sadly, many fans were disappointed in the Phillies’ first round of games in the postseason, called a series. They played the New York Mets. The Mets had 89 wins out of their 162 games, while the Phillies had 95 wins out of their 162 games, meaning the Phillies were favored to win. They were the best team in baseball for several months over the summer.

Even though they won the NL East, the best of five game series against the Mets crushed Philadelphia’s hopes of seeing another World Series so soon after their last appearance. A best of five series means that a team has to win three of the five games. 

From the first game, Phillies fans were already losing hope. The Phillies weren’t hitting well, they couldn’t score runs, and their defense let up several runs against them. Their pitching was not as good as they’ve shown they could be.

They lost the first game, but then hope was restored as the Phillies won the second game of the series, but not by much. This hope was only momentary as the Phillies lost their next two games. The series ended at an away game at the Mets home field, Citi Field.

This depressing loss struck all of Philadelphia. The Phillies did not play like they did in the regular season because it didn’t represent their true potential. Their starting pitchers could hold the Mets from scoring, but they could not keep that skill up throughout the game. 

Many can relate this loss to last year’s loss, where a former Phillies pitcher, Craig Kimbrel, blew the game for the Phillies. The Phillies were going to win the game when Kimbrel went in to pitch in the last inning and allowed too many runs to score. The Phillies ended up losing the series that would have sent them to the World Series. 

Two upsetting losses two years in the row is not good for Phillies fans’ spirits. Many hope, though, that next year will yield a better result. Phillies fans will just have to wait a whole year to see if they pull off a World Series win. The last win was in 2008 and fans are ready for a new one.