How can the Phillies regain the love of Philadelphia?
By John Town
The Phillies have fallen out of favor in Philadelphia after several losing seasons and with other teams gaining excitement.How can they get the love back?
With a 22-46 record this season, few people are finding it worthwhile to talk about the Phillies. They gained some traction at the end of April with a nice stretch of wins, but since then they have completely fallen off the map.
Fans in Philadelphia have not cared much about baseball since in the last five years with the team dropping to the cellar of the National League. Without anything to garner excitement, the Phils have fallen out of favor in Philadelphia. But how can they get that excitement back?
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The easiest way to be excited about a team is to win. During a stretch of five straight division titles between 2007 and 2011, fans couldn’t wait to flock to Citizens Bank Park to watch their baseball team. Every summer you could be satisfied by simply having the Phils to watch.
However, that is no longer the case in this city. With wins far and few between, there is little to no reason to head to Citizens Bank Park to watch a game. Philadelphia’s total attendance is No. 23 overall in MLB this season. There is little hope in sight for a winning Phils team in the near future.
Most recently, Philadelphia has centered around a winning team when the Eagles started off the 2016 season on a three-game win streak.
When the Flyers squeezed into the Stanley Cup Playoffs last year, they also developed an avid following in the city. The 76ers even went through their own stretch of wins in January, showing that their is a light at the end of the tunnel.
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Even without a winning season, teams can still develop excitement in Philadelphia merely with the hope of winning. With the Sixers’ recent trade for the No. 1 overall pick – and in effect Markelle Fultz – “The Process” has come to its unofficial end as we finally have assembled a core of stars for the team. The No. 2 pick this year for the Flyers and the Eagles’ selection of Carson Wentz in last year’s NFL draft are both exciting for those teams.
However, the Phillies don’t have that same potential for winning in the near future.
Even though they had the No. 1 overall pick in last year’s draft – and potentially in next year’s as well – that pick is still years away from aiding the major-league team.
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So what can actually make this city excited about their baseball team again? The easiest way would be for them to start winning, but they still need some time for that happen. In the meantime, the rest of Philadelphia’s major sport teams all have much more hope for the future.