One pitch ended six months of success, highlighting the harsh reality of 21st-century baseball that values fall performance over summer achievements.
Carlos Estévez crouched on the mound, resting his hands on his knees and looking over his left shoulder as Francisco Lindor hit a 2-1 fastball into right-center field. When the ball landed in Philadelphia’s bullpen for a grand slam in the sixth inning, which turned a 1-0 Phillies lead into a 4-1 deficit, Estévez dropped his hands, and his head hung low.
“I knew it right away,” Estévez said after the Phillies lost to the New York Mets on Wednesday night, ending the NL Division Series in four games and sending them home for the winter.
It has been 16 years without a World Series title for the Phillies. In the last three seasons, Bryce Harper and his teammates have continued to fall short of the trophy.
“Every loss is kind of the same, man,” Harper said. “Any time you lose and don’t finish the job of a World Series, it’s the same—if it’s the next round or the World Series round, it all feels pretty similar.”
Philadelphia made it to Game 6 of the 2022 World Series but lost to Houston. The team appeared close to success with a strong offense led by Harper, Kyle Schwarber, J.T. Realmuto, and Nick Castellanos, along with a pitching rotation featuring Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler.
In 2023, Trea Turner joined the team, and the Phillies took a 3-2 lead against Arizona in last year’s NL Championship Series but lost Games 6 and 7 at home.
This year, the Phillies started strong with a 46-20 record, gaining a 10-game division lead, and finished with a 95-67 record to win the NL East for the first time since 2011.
“You just feel like you fail,” Turner said. “We had a fun season. We had some good memories and whatnot. But when your goal is to win the World Series, and I think we talked about it plenty, it’s nothing but kind of a failure. So I don’t think it’s from lack of trying, lack of talent, or who we have in the clubhouse. We just couldn’t get it done.”
There were signs of issues as October approached. The Phillies lost eight of their last 13 games in the regular season.
