In 2022, the Philadelphia Phillies surprised the city with a joyous and unexpected trip to the World Series.
A couple months later, the Philadelphia Eagles surprised the city with a joyous and unexpected trip to the Super Bowl.
Both teams lost in heartbreaking fashion. Both entered 2023 with dreams of a championship dancing their heads and expectations raised.
After blowing out the Diamondbacks in Game 2 of the NLCS last October, the Phillies appeared to be on a glide path to a second straight trip to the Fall Classic. Two more wins over the final five games of their series with Arizona and they would be in.
After racing out to a 10-1 record and holding a two-game lead on every other team in the NFL, the Eagles appeared to be on a glide path to a second straight season as the NFC’s No. 1 seed, which would earn them a first round bye and two home victories from a second straight trip to the Super Bowl.
Of course, the Phillies fell apart starting in Game 3, losing four of the final five games of the series, including the final two in Games 6 and 7 at home, to end their season prematurely. The Eagles fell apart starting in Week 13 against the 49ers, losing five out of their last six games, with a road wild card match-up in Tampa this weekend against the Buccaneers that will almost certainly end their season prematurely.
Are you sensing a pattern?
It’s rare to have two of your city’s sports teams collapse so close together, especially when those two teams reached their sports’ final round the season before. Of course, this is Philadelphia after all. Nothing should surprise us.
On the latest edition of Hittin’ Season, we discussed which collapse, the ‘23 Phillies or the ‘23 Eagles, is worse, and there are good arguments to be made for both.
The Eagles’ Collapse is Worse
- Whereas the Phils’ collapse happened within the span of a week, akin to ripping a band-aid off, the Eagles’ collapse has been like watching a slow-moving car wreck, something you can see coming but can’t do anything about.
- The collapse has seemingly stripped the team of its winning culture, leaving a hollowed-out husk of a locker room full of players that seemingly don’t believe in each other or themselves.
- There is a very real chance Nick Sirianni, the head coach who led them to the Super Bowl just a season ago and has reached the postseason in all three seasons, could be fired, along with their entire staff.
- The Eagles are performing like the worst team in football. None of their failures are due to bad luck or injury. It is just sheer incompetence.
- Much of what happened to the Phillies is due to the randomness of the baseball playoffs. The Eagles’ collapse is just simply a very good team turning into a very bad one.
The Phillies’ Collapse Was Worse
- The fact it only took seven days for the Phils to choke away a shot at the World Series doesn’t lessen the pain. In fact, the whiplash nature of it makes it even more inexplicable.
- The Diamondbacks were a vastly inferior opponent, and the Phillies had multiple opportunities against the same pitchers and hitters to fix the problems, and couldn’t.
- The way they lost those games were heartbreaking. Blowing a late 1-0 lead in Game 3 and a 5-2 lead in Game 4, followed by Bryce Harper just missing another Bedlam at the Bank moment at the end of Game 7 can leave you sputtering in the land of “what if?” forever.
- The Phils’ collapse happened in the playoffs, when they were so close to winning it all. The Eagles’ collapse has happened in the regular season, still multiple steps away from a title.
- A baseball team that has to win a wild card round needs 13 wins to take home a title. An NFL team needs just three or four.
At the end of the day, it really depends which team you care more about. For me, I’m slightly more invested in the Phillies than the Eagles at this point, so last year’s NLCS loss is tougher to swallow than the Eagles’ descent into the abyss.
This is one of those things where there really is no wrong answer, folks. Aren’t you lucky?
