The Philadelphia Phillies are going backwards. A team that once looked like it had the world at its fingertips has now completely cratered after a fifth consecutive disappointing postseason exit. The stars are getting older, the club hasn’t developed a decent prospect in years, and the payroll is astronomical, leaving the long-term future of the organization in peril. Unfortunately, there is a parallel for a supremely talented collection of players who consistently got far, but never far enough: the 1990s Cleveland Indians.
The Indians’ dynasty that never was kicked off with a run to the 1995 World Series, led by a bevy of all-time greats in Jim Thome, Manny Ramírez, Eddie Murray, Albert Belle, Orel Hershiser, Kenny Lofton (as well as Ruben Amaro Jr.) and others. The Tribe steamrolled through the American League that year, winning 100 games in a shortened 144-game season, but ultimately fell 4-2 in the Fall Classic to the dynastic Atlanta Braves (but with only a single World Series win to show for it).
The comparison between the ‘95 Indians and the ‘22 Phillies is not perfect, but quite apt nonetheless. The Phils barely managed to sneak into an expanded playoff field with 87 wins before getting red-hot and tearing through the postseason, but themselves were led by a host of All-Stars in Aaron Nola, Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, Zack Wheeler and J.T. Realmuto.
Both teams ran up against buzzsaws and were bounced in six games. While disheartening, ‘95 and ‘22 felt like just the beginning for the Indians and Phillies, with both clubs seemingly destined to capture a World Series or two before the core broke up.
The Indians ran back largely the same team in 1996, with the additions of veterans Jack McDowell and Julio Franco, and were unceremoniously dispatched in four games in the Division Series by the Baltimore Orioles. General manager John Hart reloaded for the 1997 season, adding All-Stars Tony Fernández, Matt Williams, Marquis Grissom and David Justice, as well as riding with future star Brian Giles, en route to yet another division title.
Unfortunately, the 1997 World Series is a source of pain for Indians fans, as the Tribe matched up with a Wild Card team in the plucky Florida Marlins, featuring Kevin Brown, Charles Johnson, Gary Sheffield, Jeff Conine and a very young Liván Hernández (as well as Darren Daulton, Jim Eisenreich and general manager Dave Dombrowski).
That series went the distance, with the two sides trading blows until it reached a decisive game seven. That decisive contest was a nailbiter, as it went to extra innings tied at two runs apiece. Everyone knows what happened next: Marlins shortstop Édgar Rentería fisted a soft line drive just past the glove of pitcher Charles Nagy to score the game-winning run in the bottom of the 11th inning, sending Cleveland home just short of a title for the second time in three years.
Just like the Indians of the '90s, the Phillies already had their best shot at winning a World Series and they couldn't get it done
That heart-breaking defeat corresponds almost perfectly to the 2023 Phillies, as both squads came roaring back after World Series defeats to come oh so close to winning a title. The Phils went seven games in a postseason series of their own (this time the National League Championship Series) before stepping on a rake against the upstart Arizona Diamondbacks. That Phillies club was improved upon from the year before with the additions of Trea Turner and Craig Kimbrel, but still largely the same roster that had been ousted the year before by the Houston Astros.
The Indians of the ‘90s went on to capture the division crown the following two years, but suffered diminishing returns by being eliminated in the Championship Series in 1998 and the Division Series in 1999. Nothing much came after that as the core that got them so far finally finished fragmenting and the club was relegated to the middle of the divisional pack for most of the next decade.
Unfortunately, it seems as though the Phillies are adhering to that same model, as their stunning Championship Series collapse was followed by back-to-back faceplants in the Division Series, before this past week’s uninspiring dismissal in the Wild Card round.
Many Phillies fans look back on 2023 as the Harper and Schwarber-led core’s best chance to win at all, but they blew it. Indians architect John Hart had a similar sentiment when recalling the 1997 gut-punch, claiming, “When we got beat, the players came in [to the clubhouse] and there were a lot of tears. ... You're devastated. To sort of have the team that was probably the least talented team in that run we had in Cleveland, as far as the numbers and all the personnel -- the lineups we had in '94, '95 and '96 were ridiculous lineups. But we still had a really good team. ... To get that close and have it snatched away was a heartbreaker.”
The team that should have been a dynasty never even brought home one ring, despite a handful of bites at the apple. If the ball had bounced a different way on a few occasions, they may have taken home one, or even two trophies, with that Hall of Fame-riddled core, and yet it never came to pass. Phillies fans can’t help but have that same feeling as they’ve watched a once-dynamic and exciting collection of players atrophy into an aging and unwatchable mess.
Things never got better for the Indians. Sure, they’ve reached the playoffs plenty of times in the decades since that fantastic ‘90s run. Heck, they even went to another World Series Game 7 in 2016 before losing in extra-innings once again to the Kyle Schwarber-led Chicago Cubs. However, they still haven’t brought home the Commissioner’s Trophy to a fanbase that hasn’t tasted it since the 1948 season that featured Bob Feller, Bob Lemon, Lou Boudreau and Larry Doby.
Admittedly, it hasn’t been nearly that long for Phillies fans, but 18 years is far enough away that plenty of fans now have no recollection of the Ryan Howard/Jimmy Rollins/Chase Utley/Cole Hamels core that delivered a ring back in 2008. Sadly, it looks as though the Phillies are going to make their fans wait quite a while longer for the ultimate prize to come back once again.
The Phillies’ core isn’t breaking up; in fact, just the opposite. They’re stuck with massive contracts for Harper, Schwarber, Turner and Nola for years to come. The same Dave Dombrowski that assembled the exciting and explosive 1997 Marlins team has now locked the Phillies of the 2020s into an existence in baseball purgatory: not good enough to win it all, but too committed to tear it down. Destined to scratch and claw just to make the playoffs in the coming years, but ill-equipped to do much beyond that.
The ‘90s Indians should serve as a warning sign to Phillies brass as they find themselves in much the same situation. Sometimes a team gets one or two really good shots to bring home the bacon before the window closes. No matter how many fond memories that group of guys brought to the city, sometimes they just aren’t able to get over the hump.
Phillies fans have seen that play out in excruciating fashion over the past half-decade, and are now staring down the barrel of irrelevance as a bloated payroll, meager farm system and onerous commitments hamstring the club’s ability to seriously compete for a championship in the near future. The 1997 Indians never got another chance to make good after getting so close. Tragically, it looks like the Phillies are doomed to that same fate.
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