Give me a BREAK with the Phillies Panic

The Phillies are 9-6. They have one of the best lineups in the league. With the way Jesus Luzardo and Taijuan Walker are pitching, they probably have the best starting rotation in the league. Have some faith in the bullpen. Rob Thomson’s track record is one of the best in baseball since he took over the Phillies in mid-2022. Please, just give me a BREAK with the Phillies panic.

It’s unnecessary. Nonsensical. Ridiculous. Last weekend, they took a series from the Dodgers. This weekend, they dropped a series to the Cardinals. It happens. Welcome to baseball. 

I think every year - at least, since the Phillies started making the postseason- we get this carry over from non-baseball fans in the Delaware Valley who don’t really know what they’re talking about. And that’s okay - the more the merrier! I never gatekeep fandom. I don’t care if you’ve been watching the Phillies since the 1950s, the early 2000s, 2022, or yesterday - if you’re new, we’re happy to have you aboard. If you’re not, you should know the drill.

Maybe it’s the Eagles-first crowd who are hoping the Phillies can find the same success the Super Bowl Champion Eagles did this past season. Or maybe it’s Sixers or Flyers fans who are disappointed in how their miserable franchises have performed the past few seasons. Regardless, as of late, we get fans each year who press the panic button way too early on the Phillies and are way too reactionary. Panicans, perhaps.

Let me put things into perspective: if this were the Eagles, the Phillies are the equivalent to being 1-0 and tied at halftime in Week 2.

That’s if my math serves me correctly, which I highly doubt it does but let’s just act like it does. It’s something like that. We’re 9% of the way through the season. Relax. R-E-L-A-X. Relax. Would everyone be losing their mind and saying the season is over if that’s the situation the Eagles were in? Most likely, yes. But that’s because we’re an irrational group of people in Philadelphia. We shouldn’t be reacting that way, but we probably would be.

But this is baseball, ladies and gentlemen. Not football. Again, I welcome you to baseball. This stuff happens. The Cubs - who haven’t made the postseason since the expanded playoff format in 2020 - played the Dodgers - who have made the postseason the last 12 years straight with 2 World Series titles, including last year - this past weekend. I’m setting the scene for you with those statistics. The Cubs might be improved this year, but they’re no World Series favorite. The Dodgers, on the other hand, quite literally are. They’re the odds-on favorite to win it all. Even still, the Cubs beat the Dodgers 16-0 on Saturday. It happens.

Nobody has ever gone 162-0. They never will. I get the Phillies don’t look great at times, but again, that’s the way it goes. It’s a long season. They’re 9-6, not 6-9. They’re one game behind the Mets for the division lead, which doesn’t even matter at this point.

Remember the start the Phillies got off to last year? They were 62-34 at the All-Star Break. Over the final 66 games they went 33-33, finishing 95-67. They were on pace for 106 wins at the break and went .500 the rest of the way, losing to the Mets in the NLDS. It’s a long season. If you panic now - when things are actually going relatively good - it’s gonna be an even longer season.

And I’m no Phillies positivity absolutist - the furthest thing from it. I complain about them all the time and will continue to. I’m not trying to sound hypocritical and say you can’t complain about the Phillies while I do it until I’m blue in the face. But you’ll never catch me “pressing the panic button,” or saying the season is over, or saying “I just don’t know how this team will perform in October…” when we’re 15 games into the season. That’s asinine. Of course I’m frustrated with them right now - I always am. But that doesn’t mean I’m going back on my World Series Champion prediction. I already wrote the blog crowning them champs, I’m the one who should be panicking if anything. And I’m not. So you shouldn’t be either.

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