The Philadelphia Phillies came into the season with extremely low expectations because the team is in full rebuilding mode after getting rid of all their aging veterans and their high salaries in favor of younger, cheaper players. At one point in the season, the Phillies were so bad they were expected to lose at least 100 games.
Despite struggling for most of the season, the team finished the season strongly and won eight of their final 13 games, which included series wins over the New York Mets, Washington Nationals, and Los Angeles Dodgers.
Thanks to their late season rally, Phillies fans have a reason to be excited for next season because the improvement the team showed at the end of the season will impact the Phillies odds for next season favorably.
After the final game of the season, 24-year-old outfielder Nick Williams was happy when he addressed reporters. The rookie achieved his goal of making it to the big leagues this season and put up decent numbers, batting .288 with 12 homeruns in 83 games. His final homerun of the season was a particularly entertaining inside the park homerun in the team’s 11-0 win over the New York Mets.
Williams, who couldn’t recall if he ever hit an inside the park homerun said his eyes got big when he decided to go for it. He also added that he was completely out of gas by the time he turned around third base.
Despite their disappointing season, over 25,000 fans showed up to watch the team close out the season against their NL East rivals.
Williams, who received a curtain call after his inside the park homerun, said it was an awesome experience to get to tip his hat to the crowd for the first time in his career.
48 hours after the team announced he wouldn’t be returning to manage the team next season, Pete Mackanin took his final lineup card to home plate where he was met by the umpiring crew and Terry Collins, who resigned as the manager of the Mets after the game.
The two managers hugged and received hugs from the umpiring crew. As Mackanin was walking back to the dugout, the fans stood and cheered him. His players, who had come out of the dugout for the national anthem, joined the fans in applauding their manager.
After the game, Mackanin told reporters it was one of the best days of his career. He added that his wife and son were in the stands but he couldn’t look at them because he knew his wife would be crying and he didn’t want to start crying himself.
The Phillies finished the season with a 66-96 record, making them the 35th team in franchise history to finish 30 games below .500. The San Francisco Giants and the Detroit Tigers were the only teams that finished with a worse record than the Phillies.
Despite finishing with a losing record for the sixth consecutive season, the Phillies and their fans are excited about what the future holds. The team’s prospects played well this season and will only get better by the time next season comes around. The team also has a lot of financial flexibility after getting all the big salaries off the books, which should allow them to be major players in free agency.
Latest Comments