The Philadelphia Phillies have been one of the top teams in the majors over the last three seasons, making the playoffs each year after 10 consecutive seasons of non-playoff baseball. There has been much talk about the defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers and the significant upgrades the organization made this offseason to an already star-studded roster, which has put the Phillies in the back seat.
The current team and players from the past think that the lower expectations and seemingly less pressure heading into the 2025 season may benefit this year’s Phillies team compared to the previous years.
Jimmy Rollins provides glimmer of hope after Phillies' two postseasons of regression
The Phillies made a surprise run to the 2022 World Series after making the playoffs as the final Wild Card team in the National League. The Cinderella run came up short, losing in six games to the Houston Astros.
The Phillies had high expectations heading into the 2023 season but fell one win short of a second consecutive World Series appearance. Despite being NL East champions in 2024 for the first time since 2011 and owning the second-best record in baseball, the Phillies regressed in the playoffs again as they lost in four games to the New York Mets in the NLDS.
Phillies legend Jimmy Rollins hopes the 2025 season results in a better outcome compared to the teams he was a part of from 2008-11. Rollins and the Phillies won the World Series in 2008 and got back in 2009 but lost to the New York Yankees in six games. Despite first-place finishes in 2010 and 2011, the Phillies regressed in the playoffs each year, losing first in the NLCS and then in the NLDS the following year.
“I hope it doesn’t happen like us,” Rollins said during Phillies spring training this year, per MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki. “We got to the pinnacle, then we fell short each year after that. I hope that’s not the case. But their team is more together than our team was.”
The Phillies have one of the best clubhouses in the majors and a highly respected one around the league. The culture is second to none, which is a nod to the job manager Rob Thomson and the leaders of the team have done over the last few years.
“I tell people all the time, the [2008] team was the worst team that we had in our run,” Rollins said. “But what we did have was a whole bunch of guys that had a sour taste in their mouths from `07 [NLDS loss to Colorado]. Yeah, winning the division is cool, but we’re home fishing in five days? What was it all for?”
For much of the 2024 season, the Phillies were the best team in baseball. The late-season collapse and early playoff exit were disappointing and left a sour taste in the organization’s mouth.
Many of the players on the Phillies’ 2025 team were around for the World Series run in 2022 and the years following. The team believes they have the talent and mindset to compete and win it all, but this may be the core group’s final chance to get it done with expiring contracts looming.
“It’s the guys in uniform, they determine what happens,” Rollins said. “That’s the beauty of it.”
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