The Phillies are in the midst of their best era in more than a decade. A surprise pennant win in 2022 made Philadelphia fall in love with baseball all over again. In 2023, the Phils thrashed two division rivals on their way back to the NLCS. During this young season, they're on a historic pace and the best team in the entire sport.
The defining moment of this era, however, comes from a player no longer on the Fightins. That honor belongs to Rhys Hoskins, whose thunderous home run in Game 3 of the 2022 NLDS against Atlanta, the bat spike heard 'round the world, signified that the Phillies were unquestionably back:
The emotion of that long ball brought out a reaction unseen from a Philadelphia crowd since Patrick Robinson's iconic pick-6 in the 2017 NFC Championship Game. It was as if in a single swing, Citizens Bank Park became one of the greatest environments in not just baseball, but in all of sports. That energy has carried over the next two years with regular season crowds in 2024 resembling the rowdy atmosphere of big playoff games. "Before the spike" and "after the spike" are how the post-2011 years for this organization should be defined.
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Hoskins missed the entirety of the 2023 season with an injury he suffered in spring training and departed this offseason, signing with the Brewers. He makes his return to South Philly on Monday evening with Milwaukee for a three-game series. When he approaches the plate, he will assuredly receive a standing ovation. Much deserved! Hoskins had his ups and downs during his tenure in Philadelphia, sure, but showcased a power stroke that helped carry the Phils to the World Series.
Once the game gets settled, however, Phillies fans will understandably be rooting their team on and hope Hoskins strikes out at the plate every time up. That's baseball and that's the fun of being a wild fan, but nothing can take away the sheer aura of the bat spike that changed the trajectory of the Phillies franchise.
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