Here are Phillies' reactions after disappointing 2024 NLDS elimination

The Philadelphia Phillies are going home much earlier than we thought they would be when the players started gathering in Clearwater for spring training back in February. The goal was always to get back to the World Series. That's not happening.

After losing the NLDS 3-1 to the upstart New York Mets in an overall uninspiring performance, there are plenty of questions to be answered this offseason. The front office will have to decide if running this same group back for a third time is the answer (it's not), and the players will have a long winter to reflect on what went wrong.

But before the dissection of this Phillies team that was an abject failure begins, the players had some immediate reactions following their 4-1 Game 4 loss that we can dive into.

Here are Phillies' reactions after disappointing 2024 NLDS elimination

We'll begin with manager Rob Thomson, who guided this Phillies team to 95 regular season wins and the first NL East title since 2011 — not that any of that matters a lick right now.

"Yeah, it's disappointing," Thomson told media in his postgame press conference, per NBC Sports Philadelphia's John Clark. "The thing that's not disappointing is the character that's in our room, the professionalism, the way they go about their business, their work ethic. That's not just the players, but it's also the coaching staff, support staff. We have a rarely great group. We got beat in a short series."

As for what went wrong, Thomson brought up the bullpen and offense but was vague in providing any concrete answers.

"Yeah, the bullpen might be some of its execution, maybe some of it's being familiar with our guys. I don't know. It should work both ways, though," Thomson said. "But as far as our offense is concerned, I thought the Mets did a real good job on us. I thought we had pretty good at-bats today, and not much to show for it. But we had a couple of opportunities and Quintana pitched pretty well. But offense comes and goes, and it's hard to explain, really."

The bullpen was a surprising problem in the NLDS after being such a dominant group in the regular season. So what did Jeff Hoffman, who was one of the biggest busts this postseason, have to say about his season?

"Yeah, it sucks. All-Star wasn't one of my goals, winning the World Series was," Hoffman said. "I hope I'm back here next year with the same group and get another crack at it."

The 31-year-old will be a free agent once the World Series ends. While it seemed inevitable that the Phillies would bring him back or at least try hard to sign him after his dominant regular season, his postseason performance may give them pause.

Bryce Harper discusses the disappointment of losing

First baseman Bryce Harper, the face of the team, addressed the disappointment from a team level and a personal-performance level.

"Just got to be better. Got to finish the job. I mean, obviously, we got a great group of guys in here, had a really good core, just wasn't able to get the job done," Harper said of the disappointment of being eliminated. "Every loss is kind of the same, man. Anytime you lose and don't finish the job of a World Series it's the same. If it's the next round or the World Series round, it all feels pretty similar."

"I wish I could have done more, obviously, on a personal level," Harper, who went 4-for-12 in the series, said. "I wish I could have had that last at-bat obviously. In that situation, it would have been a lot of fun, but just wasn't able to get it."

Nick Castellanos gives the Mets credit

How do the Phillies feel about the team that beat them? The Mets came into the postseason hot, and stayed hot against the Phillies. Nick Castellanos was quick to praise the team that sent the Phillies packing in a rather lopsided series.

"Instead of feeling sorry for myself, I'm going to give them credit because right now the Mets are playing really good baseball. They're hot ... give them their credit, they beat us," Castellanos said. "Is there a lot of thing we could have done better? Yes. Is there things we could have done different? Yes. Do I think that they are a better team than us? No. But this series, they were."

Castellanos, who did his best to pull the Phillies into the NLCS with a 7-for-17 series and the walk-off winner in Game 2, also addressed the Phillies' Jekyll and Hyde season. They went from the best team in baseball in the first half, which may have created some pressure, to a .500 club in the second half.

"Well, it's not how you start, it's how you finish, and we started fantastic," the Phillies right fielder said. "We were the best team in baseball in the first half. Everybody in baseball and all the fans and everybody are saying, 'This is our year, this is our year, this is our year.' I don't know if expectations put added pressure."

Now Phillies fans have four months to wait until we begin the whole process over again in the middle of February. What the team will look like when they assemble for training camp in Florida is anyone's guess.

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