Phillies fans lift Trea Turner
And finally, this wouldn't be a list without honoring the heart and soul of Phillies baseball — the fans.
In the offseason, the Phillies signed shortstop Trea Turner to a massive 11-year, $300 million deal, setting the stage for the team to contend for the division title and for the offense to be near-unstoppable. Over the first four months of the season, things didn't turn out as planned.
Through the end of play on Aug. 3, the 30-year-old was slashing .235/.290/.368 with 10 home runs, 34 RBI and 115 strikeouts in 107 games.
During the Aug. 2 game in Miami, Turner was visibly distraught after his misplay cost the team. In the top of the 11th inning, with his team up 8-7 and a chance to add on, he stranded Stott and Harper on second and third, respectively, grounding out on the second pitch he saw. In the bottom half of the inning, with the Phillies up 8-7 and two outs, Turner couldn't handle a ground ball by Josh Bell and the Marlins tied the ballgame. Miami would go on to win 9-8 in 12 innings. Overall in the series, he was 1-for-16 at the plate.
Two games later, the team was back in Philadelphia, and so began the social media movement to show the struggling shortstop some love in his home ballpark. In the second inning of the Aug. 4 game against the Kansas City Royals, Turner stepped to the plate, and the fans let him know they had his back:
Philly's got ya, Trea 👏 pic.twitter.com/KRIO03u8sN
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) August 4, 2023
After the game, Turner told reporters: "That was pretty f**king cool. The fans have my back, and they showed up for me and it was pretty cool to see."
The standing ovations kept coming, and he rewarded the home crowd with a home run the next day.
After the fans showed up for him in a big way, the shortstop put up a .337/.389/.668 line with 16 home runs and 42 RBI in the final 48 games of the regular season.