"Chasing Greatness," the 2024 Video Yearbook of the Philadelphia Phillies, premiered on Wednesday night on the Phillies' YouTube Channel.
As Phillies fans know, the 2024 season did not end in a positive light. After claiming their first division title since 2011, the club fell flat in the NLDS against the division foe New York Mets in a heartbreaking, frustrating manner.
The idea of watching the 2024 Video Yearbook seems like re-watching a TV show that has a great start to its series but ends with a lackluster final season or series finale. Yet, thousands of fans tuned into the live-streamed debut, despite knowing the outcome.
Why? Because baseball is a long season and many of the good memories of a fun summer can sometimes outweigh the agony of losing, no matter how deflating the season's end felt.
Phillies 2024 Video Yearbook showcases ups and downs, reminds fans of 2025's promise
Many video yearbooks start off with the refreshing and hopeful scenes from spring training.
"Chasing Greatness," however, begins with a highlight montage followed by an opening monologue from narrator John Kruk. While there is excitement and hopefulness in his voice, the fan-favorite broadcaster acknowledged that the season ended in failure.
Over the course of a 162-game season, more if you include playoff games, there are sure to be ups and downs. The 2024 season was no different for the Phillies. Pre-All-Star break, the club was hot. For example, fans were reminded in the yearbook that the club won 20 games in April for the first time in franchise history.
However, this version of the season recap did not shy away from the tough stretches either, such as the brutal stretch right after the All-Star break when the Phillies started out 3-9 and lost seven consecutive series openers to begin the second half of the season.
Perhaps the harshest reminder of the abrupt ending to the season was the noticeable lack of postseason highlights. The Game 2 NLDS win was prominently featured, but it was a solemn reminder that the club came up well short of their goal.
On a lighter note, some of the fun of watching a Phillies' video yearbook is the reminders of some of the off-the-field events that took place over the course of a season. Cole Hamels retiring as a member of the Phillies and the rehashing of memories over Citizen's Bank Park's 20-year history are a few that were highlighted.
While the season ended in disappointment and was reminiscent of shortcomings in 2022 and 2023, watching the season review highlights so many of the moments that fans witnessed over the course of a long summer. Baseball fans invest huge amounts of time into their favorite teams and this edition of the yearbook took fans on a realistic journey throughout the previous campaign.
The 2024 Video Yearbook was a reminder that baseball is a long season full of peaks and valleys. It ended on a positive note reminding fans that the 2024 Phillies were a good team and that the 2025 club could be just as good, if not better. Here's to hoping the next edition of the yearbook ends with some scenes of a World Series parade on Broad Street.