Why they play the games

Okay. Those who know me know that I'm still floating a couple of feet off the ground after the sixth-seeded Philadelphia Phillies somehow eliminated the second-seeded Atlanta Braves in their best-of-5 National League Division Series Saturday with an 8-3 victory.

I manage the Phillies into the NLCS.

 That puts the Phillies in the National League Championship Series against the San Diego Padres, who are seemingly playing in a parallel baseball universe with the Phils. The fifth-seeded Padres knocked out the top-seeded Dodgers 5-3 last night with a five-run seventh inning eruption.

I've been a Phillies fan since 1963. That was the year we moved from East Hartford, CT. (where I was a 12-year-old Yankees fan) to Bethlehem, PA., (an hour outside of Philly), because Dad was entering into Moravian Theological Seminary to become a minister.

It wasn't hard for me to become a Phillies fan back then because in 1964, it looked like the team was on its way to winning a pennant – until it wasn't. The Phillies led the league for most of the season until their epic collapse in the final weeks, featuring a 10-game losing streak in their last 12 games. That's when I learned what it meant to be a Phillies fan.

In fact, about a decade or so ago, the Phillies became the first franchise of any sport to lose 10,000 total games in its history, dating back back to 1883 (which, in its defense, also makes it the longest existing single-city sports franchise in the country).

Anyway, the "Phold," as it's been called, has become a distant memory to us Phanatics, thanks to World Series championships in 1980 and 2008. But believe me, the "Phold" is still hiding there in the dark recesses of our thought processes, knowing disaster can strike at any moment. It's in our Phillies DNA.

(Notes: I was born in Allentown, PA., so, yes, I was born with the Philadelphia DNA in my system. It stays with me no matter where I live. Go Eagles. Go Flyers. Go Sixers).

This year has been a little different, though.

Major League Baseball expanded its playoff system this season with another level of competition, adding a third wild-card team. If it wasn't for that, the Phillies wouldn't even have qualified for the playoffs this year. They would have been just another third-place team with a mediocre 87-75 record in a 162-game season.

Think about that for a moment. Eighty-seven victories is only six games over .500. Meanwhile, teams like the Dodgers (111 victories), the Mets (101) and the Braves (101) were dominating the regular season. Atlanta, in fact, was on a path to defending the World Series championship that it won last year.

Then the playoffs arrived and we entered the realm of the mystical.

When baseball expanded and divided itself into divisional play, a new format was required to determine a league champion. So the playoffs were born in 1995. The playoffs provided a different kind of excitement and tension. A long season for those who qualified became a short season. And the playoffs extended the season from early October to mid-October.

There is an inherent weakness to the playoff system, however. The best team doesn't always win. Sometimes it's the team that's the hottest in that particular moment. Witness the Phillies (87 victories). Witness the Padres (89).

But you know what? I don't care. It's why we play the games. So now I'm rooting desperately for a team that fired its manager, Joe Giardi, two months into the season when they were 22-29. I'm rooting for a team that had the fourth-worst bullpen in the league. I'm rooting for a team that sometimes plays defense like it's playing with live hand grenades. I'm rooting for a team with one of the strangest names in sports.

I may smoke one of these if we win the World Series.

(OK, time for a break. I used to think "Phillies" was a bad cigar. I used to think, as a child, that the cigars were actually affiliated with the team, because the name "Phillies" was printed in block letters like many baseball teams use.

 Then, upon further investigation, I learned that cricket was very popular in the northeast states back in the 1860s, and Philadelphia had a team called "The Philadelphians." Try putting that on a uniform. Or in a headline. Somewhere along the way, between 1866 and 1883, the Philadelphians became the Phillies, which referred to a person who was a resident of Philadelphia. If that's true, then it's suddenly one of the most logical, appropriate and politically correct team name in sports.)

So here I am, still in a moment of shock because of my low expectations. I'm donning my Phillies cap again and alternating with wearing a couple of lucky Phillies related t-shirts. I'm still anxious because of 1964 but I'm still hopeful because of 1980 and 2008. I'm exchanging texts with several of my friends who live in Pennsylvania.

I'm ready to go.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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