It must be a few days before the start of the MLB regular season, because it’s time to be concerned about the Philadelphia Phillies:

So on and so forth. They’re playing the hits on social and sports talk radio. Rob Thomson isn’t the guy. Leadoff is a huge problem. The Phillies didn’t add anybody to the roster. They’re running it back with the same team that has regressed every season since going to the World Series.

Which is whatever. If that’s how you feel, that’s fine. People don’t like being told how to think or behave.

But I’d personally disagree with the general “this team isn’t good enough” narrative because Kyle Schwarber leading off wasn’t why they lost to the Mets or D Backs. Nor was it the manager. They lost because the entire hitting group chased too much garbage out of the zone. It was a lack of discipline at the plate, but not a lack of starting pitching, overall talent, or star power. And when you say they continue to run it back, that’s not entirely true. They spent almost $400 million on Trea Turner, Matt Strahm, and Taijuan Walker in 2023 and added Jesus Luzardo and Max Kepler this year. That amounts to one blockbuster move, one total miss, and some tweaking around the edges, but it’s pretty obvious that they believe in the core of a team that’s amounted to a top-five MLB payroll every year since 2021. What, did you think they were going to go out and get Shohei Ohtani or Juan Soto? Yoshinobu Yamamoto? No, but they could have been more aggressive moving a piece or two and trying to upgrade the outfield, or even offloading Alec Bohm for a “sending a message” type of upgrade to light a fire under everyone else’s asses. And if they start slow, Topper will get the Joe Girardi treatment, so we need not worry about that on March 24th.

To steal a line from the great Peter Andrews, “People are overindexed on the (Mets) playoff loss and, more significantly, assume this team must have the exact same trajectory as the 07-11 Phillies.” This is a good take. Fans have seen gradual decline, and the brilliant luster that made 2022 and 2023 so much fun has worn off. Now people look at the Phillies the same way they look at the Sixers, with a championship-or-bust mentality that will define the Bryce Harper and Dave Dombrowski era. The vibes are officially gone, as evidenced by the overwhelming euphoric reaction to the backup catcher being sent to Lehigh Valley. The honeymoon ended more than a year ago, so if you’re less than enthused about this team, I get it. I still think this is a playoff team with one of the sport’s best rotations, maybe the best, but if you aren’t feeling the buzz, I understand.


That being said, this post is less about the Phillies and more about the general attitude that continues to be pervasive in Philly sports. We can’t help but go negative.

In this case, the season has not even started. The Phillies have played zero games of 162. And what’s particularly vexing is that it’s been less than two months since the greatest Eagles team of all time won the Super Bowl behind the greatest performance in franchise history. We all witnessed a run eclipsed only by what Moses Malone and the Fo’ Fo’ Fo’ Sixers did back in 1983.

If you harken way back to August of 2024, fans largely felt the same about the Eagles then as they do the Phillies now. Would the Birds ever get back to the Super Bowl? Was the window closing? Did Jalen Hurts and Nick Sirianni actually hate each other after the 2023 collapse and firing of Brian Johnson? The Eagles then started 2-2, half of the Delaware Valley called for Sirianni’s head, then accused him of using his children as “human shields” following the defeat of the almighty Cleveland Browns. Then the team ripped off 16 wins in their next 17 games, throttled the Chiefs in the Super Bowl to end a dynasty, and made a lot of people look really stupid after all of the premature gasket blowing that took place in September.

So you have to laugh a little bit. Did the Eagles’ 2024 and 2025 triumph instill in anyone the virtue of patience and a wait-and-see approach? Did we learn anything? Apparently not, but that’s a trick question because I don’t think people want to learn or care to learn. Negativity is just built into the DNA of the Philadelphia sports fan, only we use words like “passion” and “expectation” as fake substitutes, like Stevia. We’re talking about the portion of the fan base that will happily watch the the Phils lose 90 games if it means they get to say “I told you so,” because, as we all know, being right is more important than seeing your team win.

Feel however you want to feel, but this Eagles season proved once and for all that it’s totally ridiculous (or another R word) to overreact to a team that hasn’t played 25% of its schedule, or, in this case, 0%. Even 20 minutes south of Citizens Bank Park you’ve got a Union squad that was expected to do jack shit this season, now sitting in first place with Major League Soccer’s best goal differential. And remember when we were unsure about Zack Baun and Mekhi Becton and even Saquon Barkley before the Birds played a single snap? We all saw how that turned out.

Alas, pragmatism does not sell in Philadelphia, nor does it give us anything to talk about, and if we didn’t have anything to talk about, what would we do? Would we be forced to go outside, and touch grass?

Go Phils.