A complete history of Philadelphia Phillies playoff runs
1950 Philadelphia Phillies: Pennant
35 years and two World Wars would be fought before the Phillies won their next pennant in 1950.
They also had a ‘new’ ballpark, Shibe, which had been the home of the Philadelphia Athletics since 1909. Though the A’s were a much younger franchise, the Phillies’ city rivals had experienced far greater success; by the time the Phillies joined them at Shibe, the A’s had already won nine pennants and five World Series championships.
The Phillies became tenants at Shibe in 1938, but their pennant drought continued until 1950. That year, the “Whiz Kids” – so named for their many young players – topped the National League by winning 91 games, their first 90+ win season since 1916.
Led by future Hall of Famer Robin Roberts, who pitched over 300 innings in the regular season, and closer Jim Konstanty, who led MLB that season in games pitched, games finished, and saves to win NL MVP, the Phillies threw themselves back into the World Series. Remember, there were no divisions yet, and therefore, no divisional or league rounds; whichever team won the most games in each league automatically won the pennant and headed straight to the World Series.
Facing the New York Yankees in the World Series, Konstanty started Game 1; workhorse Roberts had started an astounding four games in the span of eight days. Ironically, the closer pitched the first eight innings but did not finish the game. As was already de rigueur for the Phillies, the offense disappeared when it was needed most, and the Yankees swept them in four games.
It wouldn’t be the last World Series they’d lose to the Yankees, but more on that later…
1976 Philadelphia Phillies: Division champions
After the 1950 pennant season, the Phillies wouldn’t reach the postseason again until MLB’s landscape had changed drastically.
In the 1950s, several teams moved to new cities, including the Athletics, who left Philadelphia all to the Phillies and headed to Kansas City in 1954. In the early 1960s, the American League added the Los Angeles Angels and a new Washington Senators (the original Senators had become the Minnesota Twins), and the National League added the Houston Colt .45s (quickly renamed the Astros) and New York Mets.
In 1969, the NL divided into two divisions, East and West – the NL Central was still decades away – and the Phillies became an NL East team. The creation of divisional play was good news for the Phils, as they’d had six consecutive >.500 seasons in the mid-60s, including a second-place 92-win finish in 1964, but never enough to take home the pennant or return to the World Series.
1976 was the Phillies’ first season in franchise history in which they won 100+ games. This new level of success was due in large part to Mike Schmidt, who hit 12 home runs in the team’s first 15 games, including a four-homer game against the Chicago Cubs. It was only Schmidt’s fifth year in the majors, but already his second All-Star season, and he won his first of 10 Gold Gloves, and led MLB in home runs for the third consecutive season in only five years in the majors.
That year’s squad was stacked: Bob Boone, Dick Allen, Larry Bowa, Schmidt, Greg Luzinski, Steve Carlton, Jim Kaat, and Tug McGraw were among their many talents.
Each of the Phillies’ first three postseason appearances took place decades apart, and in different ballparks. Veterans Stadium, so named for the country’s many veterans of war, had taken over three years to build, and cost a whopping $60M, including the most expensive scoreboard set-up in all of pro sports at the time. After decades of playing in the A’s dilapidated old Shibe Park, on April 10, 1971 – almost exactly 62 years to the day the A’s had played their inaugural game at Shibe (April 12, 1909) – the Phillies finally had a modern ballpark of their own.
Unfortunately, the Vet, which hosted that year’s All-Star Game, wouldn’t see postseason success just yet. The Phillies finished 101-61 to take home their first division title easily (no other NL East team won more than 92 games) but got swept in the postseason once again, this time by the Cincinnati Reds, who won the NLCS in three games.
1977 Philadelphia Phillies: Division champions
In 1977, the Phillies again won 101 games and clinched a postseason berth, an astounding feat for a team that, before 1976, had never reached 100+ wins or made back-to-back postseason appearances in almost a century of play.
The squad was largely similar to the year before, though future Wall-of-Famer and Cuban Baseball Hall of Famer Tony Taylor had been released in November 1976 and hired by the club as a coach for the 1977 season.
Mike Schmidt had another All-Star and Gold Glove season and hit 38 home runs for the third year in a row, a feat even more impressive considering he did so in fewer games than the two years prior.
This time around, the Phillies managed to do something in the postseason that they hadn’t done since their very first October run: they didn’t get swept. After winning Game 1 of the NLCS, the Phillies dropped the following three to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
1978 Philadelphia Phillies: Division champions
After never making back-to-back appearances in the postseason before, the Phillies decided to extend their streak to three years, when they won the NL East again in 1978. This time, the squad only needed 90 wins to clinch the division.
Mike Schmidt also extended his Gold Glove streak to three, but had a down year offensively, only playing 145 games and breaking his streak of 30-homer seasons by only hitting 21.
While Schmidt struggled, Larry Bowa soared; he led the team in games played, at-bats, hits, average, home runs, and RBI.
Unfortunately, history also repeated itself in the form of loss, as the Phils again dropped the NLCS three games to one to the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Phillies struggled offensively, though future Hall of Famer Steve Carlton kept their hopes alive by hitting a home run and getting the win in Game 3.
The best thing to come from the 1978 season was the Phillie Phanatic, who made his debut on April 25.
1980 Philadelphia Phillies: World Series champions
The Phillies took a break from the postseason in 1979 but came back with a vengeance in 1980. It was their sixth consecutive winning season and everything that had been percolating since their first division title in 1976 was about to come to a head.
It was a year of playoff disappointment for Philadelphia, as the Flyers and 76ers had already reached the Stanley Cup Finals and NBA Finals, and lost both. In January 1981, the Eagles would lose the 1980-81 season’s Super Bowl. The city’s hopes and dreams rested on the Phillies.
And by 1980, the Phillies were the only one of the original sixteen MLB franchises without a World Series championship, a statistic made all the more embarrassing by how much older they were than many of the other ball clubs.
The Phillies hadn’t played in the World Series since 1950 and hadn’t won a World Series game since their very first postseason run in 1915. But with the additions of Pete Rose and Manny Trillo the year before, and the continued dominance of Mike Schmidt, Greg Luzinski, Bob Boone, Larry Bowa, Steve Carlton, and Tug McGraw, to name a few, the Phillies were finally built to win.
Speaking of Schmidt, he led MLB with a career-high 48 home runs and 342 total bases, and led the NL in RBI, slugging, and OPS to win his first MVP award and Silver Slugger, and fifth consecutive Gold Glove.
For the first time since the pre-divisional era, the Phillies won the pennant, defeating the Houston Astros in the NLCS. In the World Series, they met the Kansas City Royals, the expansion team that had replaced the Kansas City Athletics in 1969, after the A’s moved to Oakland two years prior. Ironically, the Royals beat the Yankees – who had swept the Phillies in their last World Series appearance – in order to face the Phillies in the World Series.
Between the Vet and Royals Stadium, the 1980 World Series was the first played entirely on artificial turf. It was also a matchup of eventual MVPs, as Schmidt would win the NL MVP and Royals star George Brett would take home the AL MVP.
Phillies rookie Bob Walk started Game 1 of the World Series, only the third rookie to have the honor at that point in MLB history. The Phillies won the first two games, then dropped the next two letting the Royals tie it.
Ultimately, the series took six games, with Game 6 setting a record tv audience of nearly 55 million viewers, a number unmatched in World Series history to this day. That night at the Vet, Carlton got the start, Schmidt put the Phils on the board with a two-run single, and in the eighth inning, Carlton turned it over to McGraw, who would earn the save and cement the first championship in franchise history by striking out Willie Wilson.
Trillo won NLCS MVP, Schmidt won NL MVP and World Series MVP, Carlton won the NL Cy Young, and McGraw won the Babe Ruth Award.
In typical Phillies fashion, even their first championship season was fraught with close games, leading to the team being nicknamed “The Cardiac Kids.” But all’s well that ends well, and after 97 years, the Phillies were finally champions of the world.
1983 Philadelphia Phillies: Pennant
Whereas in 1980, the 76ers had lost the NBA Finals and the Phillies had won the World Series, in 1983, their fortunes reversed; the 76ers won their third championship, a feat not repeated since.
In their centennial season, the Phillies returned to the postseason after winning 90 regular-season games.
In 1950, the Phillies had been the Whiz Kids due to the team’s overwhelming youth. This year, they were the Wheeze Kids, because they were a team of veterans. The 1983 Phillies had seven players between ages 38-42: Pete Rose, Tony Perez, Bill Robinson, Ron Reed, Joe Morgan, Steve Carlton, and Tug McGraw. 23 players on the roster were 30 or older.
Carlton briefly passed Nolan Ryan on the all-time strikeouts list in June, but Ryan would ultimately triumph. His 5,714 career strikeouts are an all-time record unlikely to ever be beaten, as no other pitcher has even reached 5,000. Carlton was second, with 4,136, but was eventually surpassed by Randy Johnson and Roger Clemens.
On September 28, the Phillies clinched the NL East and celebrated their 7,000th career win as a franchise.
In the NLCS, the Phillies finally bested the Los Angeles Dodgers, who had caused them so much pennant heartache in the 1970s. It was a stunning upset, as the Dodgers had won 11 of their 12 regular-season matchups that year.
In a perfect twist of fate, the Phillies – who had lost both the 1977 and 1978 NLCS to the Dodgers three games to one – triumphed over the Dodgers three games to one.
The 1983 World Series was notable for a comical reason: it was the first Fall Classic in which the teams didn’t have to travel by air since 1956. With Baltimore and Philadelphia a little more than 100 miles apart, the series was nicknamed “The I-95 Series” for the interstate that connected the two cities.
Unfortunately, this World Series wouldn’t turn out like the last, as the Baltimore Orioles bested them four games to one. But while the Orioles haven’t reached the World Series since, the Phillies have had a bit of success since then…
1993 Philadelphia Phillies: Pennant
Whereas the American League had expanded in 1977, the National League waited until 1993 to add the Colorado Rockies and Florida Marlins, later the Miami Marlins.
It was also the Phillies’ first playoff appearance since Mike Schmidt had retired after the 1989 season, capping an incredible 18 years in the majors, all in a Phillies uniform. In fact, the only remaining members of the ’83 squad were Larry Anderson and Darren Daulton, who had debuted in September 1983, but hadn’t played in the postseason.
The Phillies hadn’t had a winning season since 1986 but finished the 1993 regular season 97-65, their first 90-win season in a decade, and the most wins by a Phillies team since their back-to-back 101-win seasons in 1976-77.
The 1993 squad was headlined by sluggers Lenny Dykstra and John Kruk, who each hit over .300 with double-digit home runs. A 26-year-old Curt Schilling led the rotation with 34 starts and 235 1/3 innings, a new career-high at that point.
For the first time in their postseason history, the Phillies faced the 104-win Atlanta Braves in the NLCS. The Phillies took Game 1 in extras, then lost the following two games, before the Phillies rebounded to win three straight and return to the World Series for the first time in a decade.
The Phillies, who had played a part in the very first all-artificial turf World Series in 1980, took part in the fourth one in 1993. Unfortunately, they were bested once again by an American League East team; this time, it was the Toronto Blue Jays, who had won their first championship the year before. The Jays outscored the Phils 45-36 and outhit them 64-58, but also made seven errors to the Phillies’ two.
Fun fact: it was the first World Series in which a come-from-behind walk-off home run clinched the championship, a three-run blast by Joe Carter.
2007 Philadelphia Phillies: Division champions
After a lengthy – but not their longest – drought, the Phillies finally returned to the postseason in 2007. In July, they also became not only the first MLB team, but the first professional sports team in modern history to lose 10,000 games.
In the new millennium, MLB was different once again; there were now 30 teams, a single-team wild-card playoff berth, and a new divisional round in the playoffs added another roadblock before a team could play in the World Series.
And once again, the Phillies had a new ballpark. Citizens Bank Park opened in 2004, replacing Veterans Stadium. The Vet had only been their home for 33 years, a short time considering it had cost approximately $60M to construct, making it one of the most expensive sporting arenas at the time.
Much like the Phillies of the late 1970s, the 2007 Phillies had almost all the requisite pieces but weren’t quite a championship team yet. Ryan Howard had won the 2005 NL Rookie of the Year and 2006 MVP, but after hitting an MLB-leading 58 home runs in 2006, only hit 47 in 2007.
But a promising squad had begun to take shape: Howard, Carlos Ruiz, Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, Pat Burrell, and Shane Victorino in the lineup, and a young Cole Hamels on the mound, having his first All-Star season and coming in sixth in NL Cy Young voting.
Rollins, in particular, had a standout year; he played in every regular-season game, and led MLB in games played, plate appearances, and at-bats, and led the NL in runs scored and triples, to win the only NL MVP and Silver Slugger awards of his career, as well as his first of four Gold Gloves. Utley also won a Silver Slugger, and Aaron Rowand won a Gold Glove.
It only took 89 wins to own the NL East, but the Phillies were quickly swept out of their very first NLDS by the Colorado Rockies.
Turnabout’s fair play, though, as the Rockies would then be swept by the Boston Red Sox in the World Series.
2008 Philadelphia Phillies: World Series champions
After a disappointing end to a promising 2007 season, the Phillies front office didn’t waste any time building for 2008. They signed manager Charlie Manuel to a two-year extension, re-signed reliever J.C. Romero, and traded for closer Brad Lidge, who would soon prove himself to be as crucial as a pitcher can be.
The Phillies won the NL East for the second year in a row, with a regular-season record of 92-70. Ryan Howard once again led MLB in home runs and RBI, slugging 48 and driving in 146 in the only 162-game season of his career. He was the NL MVP runner-up to Albert Pujols.
Looking to bolster their starting rotation, the Phillies acquired Joe Blanton from their former city-mates, the Athletics, at the trade deadline. Lidge, meanwhile, went the entire season without blowing a save, finishing 61 games and earning 41 saves.
Hamels somehow was not an All-Star or Cy Young finalist in 2008, despite making five more starts and posting a significantly lower ERA over nearly 50 more innings than the year before. He started and won Game 1 of the NLDS against the Milwaukee Brewers, pitching an eight-inning shutout gem.
The 2008 NLDS
In Game 2, Shane Victorino hit a grand slam, and in Game 3, the Brewers finally won one. But by Game 4, the Phillies were a well-oiled machine, hitting four home runs while Blanton held the Brewers to one run over six innings to end advance his new team to the next round.
The 2008 NLCS
In the NLCS, the Phillies faced their old postseason nemeses, the Dodgers, for the fourth time. The Dodgers were hoping that 2004 Red Sox champions Derek Lowe and Manny Ramirez would work the same magic in Los Angeles, but the Phillies took the series in five games.
Hamels won series MVP, and the Phillies advanced to the World Series once again. Years later, the Dodgers would try the same thing again, this time, with several members of the 2008 Phillies, including Rollins, Utley, and Victorino.
The 2008 World Series
The 2008 World Series was a matchup of baseball’s oldest and newest, as the 126-year-old Phillies faced the 11-year-old Tampa Bay Rays, who had just dropped “Devil” from their name. The Rays hadn’t existed the last time the Phillies played in the World Series.
This fall classic was special for the Phillies. For Game 3, the first in Philadelphia, Steve Carlton threw out the first pitch and Tim McGraw spread his father Tug’s ashes on the mound. Carlton and McGraw had pitched the deciding game of the club’s first championship, 28 years prior. The Phillies won to take a 2-1 series lead and never lost again.
But the series was not without chaos; Game 3 was delayed over an hour by rainstorms, and Game 5 made history when heavy wind and rain forced a suspension of play in the sixth inning. The game resumed two days later, and the Phillies brought Philadelphia its first championship since the 1983 76ers. It was the first and remains the only World Series game in MLB history to be suspended mid-game and resumed at a later date.
Whereas the Phillies had lost their last two World Series to American League East teams (Orioles, Blue Jays), in 2008, they finally triumphed over one.
Harry Kalas
On a bittersweet note, it was a special series for Harry Kalas, who had been broadcasting with the Phillies since 1971. He’d called the first and last games at the Vet, six NLCS, and three World Series, but had not been allowed to call the 1980 World Series due to MLB’s rules at the time. The rule had infuriated Phillies fans, who promptly campaigned for MLB to amend it, which they did the following year.
In 2008, Kalas was finally able to call a Phillies championship. On April 8, 2009, Kalas threw out the first pitch on the day the Phillies received their World Series rings. He passed away five days later. This website’s name is a tribute to his signature home run call, “That ball’s way outta here!”
2009 Philadelphia Phillies: Pennant
In 2009, the Phillies won back-to-back pennants for the first time in franchise history.
As defending champions, the Phillies actually improved upon the prior season’s record, winning 93 games and their third division title.
In July, the Phillies again upgraded their starting rotation, trading for Cliff Lee and signing free-agent Pedro Martinez.
In a rematch of 2007, the Phillies again faced the Colorado Rockies in the NLDS, this time triumphing three games to one. Acquiring Lee paid off, big-time, as he pitched a complete game in Game 1.
For the second year in a row, bad weather forced postseason game postponement and the Phillies bested the Los Angeles Dodgers for the pennant, four games to one.
The World Series was a rematch of 1950, with the Phillies and Yankees facing off. Lee again pitched a complete game in Game 1 to give the Phillies a 1-0 lead in the series.
Unfortunately, once again, the Yankees triumphed. At least this time, it wasn’t a sweep.
Ironically, their manager, Joe Girardi, is now the Phillies manager.
While the team didn’t take home another Commissioner’s Trophy, Chase Utley won his fourth consecutive Silver Slugger, while Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino took home Gold Gloves.
2010 Philadelphia Phillies: Division champions
For the fourth straight season, the Phillies topped the NL East, and improved upon their regular-season record, winning 97 games.
The Phillies had picked up Cliff Lee’s option but then traded him to the Seattle Mariners. That same day, they acquired Roy Halladay from the Toronto Blue Jays in a unique trade that included a lucrative three-year extension with the Phillies.
Their postseason run got off to a stunning start in the NLDS, with Roy Halladay pitching his second career no-hitter in Game 1. His first had come during the regular season when he threw a perfect game against the Florida Marlins.
The Phillies swept the Cincinnati Reds in the low-scoring series, and moved on to the NLCS for the third season in a row, though it was their first time facing the San Francisco Giants in the postseason. The series went to six games, but the Giants emerged victorious and would go on to win their first World Series since 1954.
2011 Philadelphia Phillies: Division champions
Last, but not least, the end of the Golden Era.
2011 would be the Phillies’ fifth consecutive NL East championship season, and once again, they surpassed their previous win totals, this time, setting a new franchise record with 102 regular-season wins.
For the second year in a row, the Phillies were eliminated from the postseason by the eventual champions, this time, the St. Louis Cardinals.
What’s next for the Phillies?
In 2021, the Phillies cemented a full decade without postseason play. However, they also completed their first winning season since 2011, signaling light at the end of a long, dark tunnel.
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