Thursday, October 1, 2026
79 ° Clear
79 ° Clear
Much of the Philadelphia area was convinced the 2026 Phillies season was going to end on Sunday. The Phillies were a game away from missing out on the postseason.
Now it’s Monday. The Phillies’ season is still alive.
That does not erase the frustration of the past week or make the concerns about this team disappear. But after spending days bracing for the season to end, there is something to be said for appreciating the chance to keep playing. Before turning the page to Red October (in September), a little perspective is in order.
There has been a lot of chatter in recent days asking the question if the Phillies should celebrate making the playoffs or not. On one hand, every team does it, so why not the Phillies? On the other hand, they should have been in a week ago and have been in the past four years, so why celebrate something that should be assumed?
Both sides present valid points, but here is the thing:
It is a long season.
162 games. Seven and a half months of time spent with your team from Spring Training to the final game. Football plays just over a tenth of the games. Hockey and basketball play half the amount of games.
Not only is it more games, but they play nearly every day. The only extended pause is a four-day break during the All-Star Break (this year the break was only three days for the Phillies).
Now, it is also true that these players get to play a sport and make millions of dollars doing so. But that does not mean they should not be given a simple luxury like celebrating when the regular season ends successfully.
That is right, ending the regular season with a playoff berth is a successful regular season. You play all season with the goal of making the playoffs. If that goal is met, the regular season is a success. The ultimate goal of winning the World Series remains, but that goal can only be attained after a successful regular season. After the regular season, your goal is to win the World Series by navigating the postseason.
That also means, that as the postseason begins, everything resets. Stat lines from the regular season have no consequence. Records against opposing teams have no consequence.
The Atlanta Braves dominated the Phillies this season, but in just two games the Phillies could eliminate them from the postseason. None of the Braves’ nine wins against the Phillies would matter.
Conversely, the Phillies’ postseason could end in just two games. Both outcomes are possible.
The determining factor will be which of the two teams performs better now. Momentum can certainly play a factor, and perhaps the Phillies’ victory on Sunday balanced their momentum scale before it fell off from a rough September.
More important than momentum, however, is who shows up to play. The past few postseasons, the Phillies have not shown up to play as a collective and have been eliminated right away. But again, that history does not matter now. All that matters is what happens next.
So that brings us here. The Phillies, a team with 11,466 losses, the most in professional sports history, is in the playoffs for a fifth consecutive year.
There have been a lot of periods in Phillies history where it seemed as though they might never make the postseason. Now, they will have been in 10 of the last 20 postseasons as a franchise.
This season has been a hard one. Many of the grievances fans feel and have expressed in recent days are real, but there will be an entire offseason to address the construction of the team and who leads it.
In the meantime, sit back and relax, because the postseason is officially upon us once again. Enjoy the ride, whether it ends in the second game of the Wild Card Series or in game seven of the World Series.
After all, like Harry Kalas always said, once there was a silly old ant. And he had high hopes.
MORE: Recapping the Phils' playoff-clinching 7-3 win
