Ask the Phillies: When did you think this team could go on a special run?

HOUSTON — Thursday was media day at Minute Maid Park. The Phillies are enjoying the national spotlight as they prepare to take on the Houston Astros in the 2022 World Series. It’s the final stage of what has been an incredible ending to a season full of ups and downs.

The best part about this moment in Phillies history is that it was so unexpected. Maybe the only ones who could have saw this coming were the players themselves, who could sense that there was just something about this team — even as they struggled.

To better understand when things began to click, Phillies Nation asked a handful of players one question: When did you begin to think this team could go on a special run?

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J.T. Realmuto

Really in spring training. The guys in the clubhouse felt that way all year long, even though we weren’t playing our best baseball. After almost every game that we lost, we would always say in the clubhouse, “Wait until we get hot. Don’t focus too much on what’s happening right now.” Our goals are in October and we felt like we had the pieces in place to have a good October and if we just got to the postseason, we could make a run. Really, all season long we felt that way.

Zack Wheeler

Honestly, I think it’s gonna sound kind of dumb but, during spring training when we signed Nick [Castellanos] and [Kyle Schwarber]. And then when Dave [Dombrowski] made some of the trades that he did, I thought it was possible then. We go through the ups and downs throughout the season, but there’s nowhere in particular, I think. I knew we were a good team. We just had to play well and play consistent. I think at a certain point, we kind of took off. Everybody kind of comes back to when [Rob Thomson] took over. Could that be it? Maybe, but I think we just kind of started clicking at that point in the season. We were better.

Matt Vierling

Man, there’s so many moments that are like that, but if I had to pinpoint one moment, I would say that road trip towards the end of the year. We lost those games to the Cubs and then bounced back and played really well against the Nationals and then played really well against Houston. So, that was such a long road trip and we were kind of coming together well as a team.

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Bryson Stott

I would say I can’t really pinpoint it, but just kind of how the the bonds and the friendships kind of started forming and we went on that run. I want to say, not halfway through June, but [June]. It’s just been tons of fun and enjoying each other’s company and enjoying playing together.

Kyle Gibson

Yeah, I mean, I think truly and honestly, we believed it the whole time. You know, I think naturally there’s a little doubt that creeps in whenever you start to struggle. But through all the struggles in April and May and June, you know, we were telling ourselves that this is a 162-game season and we need to make sure that we stay focused and that there’s an end goal in mind. And yeah, there’s checkpoints along the way that you want to hit. But if you start 22-29, it doesn’t matter. It does not impact how you’re gonna play in the postseason or anything like that. So we tried to really stay focused and tried to really understand that the expectations that we have for ourselves are at the end of a 162-game season. I think that allowed us to stay focused.

Garrett Stubbs

Yeah, I think that obviously you go into spring training and that’s the mindset. And we told that to ourselves, too. I remember Schwarber standing up and saying a few things about what it takes to make it to the World Series and win a World Series and seeing how he’s done that before. And then obviously, the turning point of that nine-game winning streak, when [Thomson] became our manager. I don’t think we ever lost belief through April and May where we weren’t really having the best record or winning a lot of baseball games. But I think that moment when [Thomson] became our leader and went on that nine-game winning streak, that belief really came through.

Brian Kaplan, assistant pitching coach

I mean, honestly, right away. Kind of the excitement of when the lockout ended and everything started where, you know, the signings of some of the hitters and things like that and getting a chance to see some of the [non-roster invitees] that we saw like [Andrew] Bellatti early on in the year and [Nick] Nelson and those guys. It kind of started right away. You just felt that this team really had a lot of unique pieces from starting pitching, really impressive guys in the back, guys that can swing it.

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