September 24, 2024
Eric Hartline/USA Today Sports
The champagne was flowing at Citizens Bank Park on Monday evening.
The Phillies danced around Citizens Bank Park on Monday night, then popped champagne and threw back beers. Celebrations have become their thing over the past few years, and this selection of players had a new milestone to commemorate in Philadelphia.
After two seasons of parties for Wild Card spots and postseason victories, the Phillies earned a regular-season achievement they’ve been chasing for 13 years with a 6-2 win over the Chicago Cubs. They won the 12th National League East championship in team history, the first since 2011. It was a title with significance to the franchise and a celebration worth waiting for.
The Phillies have assembled a tremendous three-year run that’s seen a magical unexpected trip to the 2022 World Series, two postseason series victories over the rival Atlanta Braves and now a division championship. Red October has returned in glorious fashion at Citizens Bank Park. Bryce Harper has hit numerous dramatic playoff home runs. Zack Wheeler has proven himself as one of the best pitchers in the sport. Kyle Schwarber has become the Phillies’ spark plug as the leadoff hitter. It’s been fun and meaningful baseball all the way through.
With an NL East crown, this Phillies core has cemented itself as one of the greatest teams to ever take the field in red pinstripes, authoring one of the three defining runs in franchise history. The Phillies have only put together a few periods of extended success since they were founded in 1883; many, many losing seasons have filled in the gaps.
Philadelphia is enjoying one of those few shiny moments right now with true superstars leading the way. Having three straight postseason appearances, a National League championship and now a division title under its belt, this club has established itself as one of the elite Phillies groups — right there with the runs that included World Series championships in 1980 and 2008.
The Phillies have now made the postseason for the third time in a row, a historical marker in team history. They’ve only made the playoffs in three or more consecutive seasons three times. All coming in Major League Baseball’s divisional era, the Phillies’ best stretches have featured NL East triumph. Now, all those instances have included at least one division championship.
Winning five NL East titles from 1976 to 1983, the Phillies made the playoffs six times in that span and won the World Series in 1980 before wrapping up that dominant stretch with a National League pennant in 1983. Led by Hall of Fame third baseman Mike Schmidt, the Phillies bounced back from three straight NL Championship Series losses and a disappointing 1979 to get over the hump and bring a Phillies championship parade down Broad Street for the first time.
Decades later, Philadelphia emerged with a homegrown core that continued to add star talent as it won the NL East five consecutive times from 2007 to 2011 in the greatest era Phillies fans have ever seen. The team won the World Series in 2008 and made it back in 2009. The Phillies won a club-record 102 games in 2011 before falling into a 10-season playoff drought.
Those teams are beloved. Fans continue to cheer when Schmidt or Cole Hamels or Ryan Howard make their way to the ballpark. The team makes an effort to honor them and keep those figures around. Including executives and the manager, 18 members of the 1976 to 1983 Phillies have been inducted into the team’s Wall of Fame. The 2007 to 2011 Phillies should rival that, with four members inducted and many more on the way. A good chunk of the 2022 Phillies plus Trea Turner and other players that could step up in the coming years will likely represent this current group on the Wall of Fame as well.
The Phillies have played 142 major-league seasons, and not many of them have been successful. They are, of course, the losingest team in the history of professional sports. Runs of continued excellence are uncommon in Phillies baseball, and they are revered by the team and fans alike when they come along. The current Phils have entered that tier.
A handful of other Phillies teams have had their highs too. The 1915 Phillies won the NL pennant, as did the 1950 Whiz Kids and the 1993 Macho Row that proved to be one of the most popular teams in all of Philadelphia sports. But those years were flashes in the pan, one-off seasons that had no staying power or surrounding brilliance. The great Phillies teams have been able to separate themselves with multi-year runs.
Where the current Phillies fall behind the great teams that preceded them is the lack of a World Series trophy. They got close two years ago, but couldn’t finish the job against the Houston Astros. Philadelphia took advantage of an expanding playoff system in 2022, claimed the top NL Wild Card seed in 2023 and proved themselves as a start-to-finish force in 2024 to take a special place in franchise history; it’ll be only the third-best Phillies group unless the team can replicate 1980 or 2008.
Still, there’s plenty more baseball to be played, both this October and in the upcoming years. A World Series title is the goal, and the team and city shouldn’t take their sights away from that prize. But that can’t be the only thing that matters.
This Phillies team has brought regular-season fortune and playoff excitement back to Citizens Bank Park, rejuvenating a ballpark that had lost its juice since the days of Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley. These Phillies have made baseball relevant again in Philadelphia and given fans moments to remember forever. That’s an accomplishment that can’t be ignored, one that will leave a lasting legacy.
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