This article has been in the works for a year, back when this was called “The Weekly Wrapup”. I wanted to get it out by the end of the 2022 postseason, but life (and the unpredictable twists of baseball) led me to delay this. As the Phillies are trying to repeat the joys of Red October, I would like to look back on the 2022 postseason as a whole. It was a difficult start to the season, with the lockout and seemingly unending conflicts between owners and players, but what happened after that, on the field and off, more than made up for it. More content for MLB.com to cover is always a positive. So, first in our round the horn on the season’s end … a dispatch from Chicago, where a definite Hall of Fame career ends in ignominy.
LaRussa Gone
Oh, Chicago. A place where the best preseason intentions and loftiest hopes are ground out of teams come October. The Chicago White Sox stuck to the script. Preseason hype from the MLB Network and Sports Illustrated led many in the baseball world, me included, to think the Sox were playoff-bound. It was Tony, Tony, Tony … Tony LaRussa, that is, how he came out of retirement just to manage this team. Unfortunately, by August, LaRussa was on medical leave for unspecified reasons (and we wish him well). But he will not be missed by White Sox fans. He made many illogical decisions, notably his decision in an early June game to intentionally walk Trea Turner, with the next batter hitting a game-winning HR. He doubled down in August, pulling the same maneuver against the Cleveland Guardians with an equally dismal result. LaRussa’s White Sox did not live up to the hype. By the start of October, they were eight games out of the Wild Card chase. There will be tough times on the South Side this off-season with a lot of soul-searching. After early exits from the playoffs during the pandemic years, you have to go back over a decade to the last time they were in the playoffs, 2008. Their drought was almost as bad as the Phillies had been, until this year, which probably puts an even more sour taste in the mouths of Chicago fans. All around them, in New York, LA, Houston, Cleveland, Philly, teams are on the rise, and they are the picture of mediocrity. As of September 2023, with LaRussa officially gone from the team (was the booing from White Sox fans enough?, I wonder)
Playoff Watch: KARMA for the Jays and Mets
Philadelphia is known for decades of losing and heartbreaking defeats, which the Phillies have added to. I have two names for you: Joe Carter and Ryan Howard. Howard’s injury on the final play of the 2011 NLDS against the Cardinals was not only the last time the Phillies appeared in the postseason before 2022, but also altered Howard’s career, and not for the better. I will mention the Cardinals later, but I shall discuss the Blue Jays.
Since 1993, they have not won a World Series. But they have had many wonderful postseason moments. Jose Bautista’s bat flip home run against the Rangers in 2015, and Edwin Encarnacion’s walk-off home run against the Orioles the next year, come to mind. In 2022, the Blue Jays looked to create that same kind of magic against the Seattle Mariners in the Wild Card Series. They had amazing hitters in Vladimir Guerro Jr and pitching depth with Alec Manoa and Ross Stripling. They had finished in second place in a competitive division (AL East). The Mariners clinched their first postseason berth in two decades on a walk-off home run by Cal Raleigh that would have made Bautista and Encarnacion proud. The Blue Jays took Game One at home and were on their way to winning the second game. Then the Blue Jays collapsed. Without hitting a home run, the Mariners came back to tie the game
The Braves and Mets also made a run at history in the nail-biting NL East race. It was not the first time for either team to top the division, by any means. I was in eighth grade the last time the Mets made it to the postseason, too busy then watching alternative history TV shows to even switch the channel to MLB.com. They lost to the Royals in that World Series. (Which did catch my eye, even through the din of alt-history. I mean, of all the teams to halt your first World Series title run since the Buckner Blunder in 1986, you lose to the Royals?) Would this be their year to win the division? It was not to be, as the Braves took first at the last moment, and the Mets pulled their best impression of September 2008, when they squandered the division at the last moment, opening the door for our beloved Phillies to run, ultimately, to World Series glory. So they had to play a Wild Card series against the San Diego Padres, who, just like the Mets, had their own demons (*coughs in Yankees*).
[AUTHOR’S NOTE: The following paragraph was written before THE RUN TO THE SERIES]
Phillies Watch: Wild Card Edition
I had a whole paragraph planned to highlight all the Phillies’ foibles. I chastised them for their slump that I thought would cost them the postseason. Well, I was wrong. When writing this paragraph, the Phillies, your author’s and hopefully your favorite team, clinched a postseason berth, their first since Ryan Howard’s Achilles (and heart) wrenching tear in 2011. They shut out the usually formidable Houston Astros by a score of 3-0 to pop champagne in their dressing rooms. I do not know how long their run may be. They face the same team in the Wild Card round, to whom they lost the Cardinals. They may lose to them again, or advance to the NLDS, or maybe win the pennant, or even, and this may sound silly, go to the World Series. May they go deep and conquer all that stands in their way!
I thought that I would be wrong when I saw the score. The Cardinals were up 2-0 in the bottom of the eighth at their home field. They had every advantage to win. And yet, the Phillies came back, with Alec Bohm getting hit by a pitch, and Jean Segura singling in the go-ahead run. They scored 6 runs in the top of the ninth to win Game 1. They also had amazing pitching performances from Zach Wheeler in Game One for allowing only two runs, and Aaron Nola, plus the bullpen, shutting down the Cardinal offense in Game Two. Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina’s postseason careers shouldn’t have ended that way, but my team won, so that’s more of a moot point. Let’s keep on trucking and causing upsets!
Padre Magic
There are two eternal rules in life: the Golden Rule and the Mets will always collapse in the postseason. To quote UrinatingTree on YouTube (yes, that is the name of his YouTube channel), “LolMets never dies.” Some may have thought the Mets wouldn’t pull a vintage Mets collapse from, say, the fall of 2007, 2009, or the 2015 WS. They had 100 wins, they said. They were in first place, they said. They forgot that the Mets had a 2007 vintage wine somewhere in their cellar and drank all of it. The Braves moved on to the NLDS, while the Mets had to play the Padres. And they lost. Bad. Their ace in Max Scherzer, got tormented for 3 runs in the first three innings. They did win Game 2, but lost Game 3. In a shutout. Not even inspecting Joe Musgrove’s ears will help the Mets win. Yet another story of LOL Mets. Enjoy milking your 1986 World Series win, because it looks like the best thing you’ve ever done as a franchise.
Mariner Crash
Look, Mariners, I am not going to go in as hard as I did with the Mets or Blue Jays. You did what you could. It’s hard to go up against the machine of the Astros, even if you have good pitching and hitting. I am happy that you had an amazing regular season and for beating the Blue Jays. But be grateful that you made it this far. The problem is that you haven’t been in the postseason in over two decades, and it has changed since 2001. You got farther than many of us expected, and for that, I am proud of you. Just please do not revert to your past state of mediocrity. Your bullpen not only blew Game One on a walk-off, but also Game Three at home, in extra innings. You also got shut out in Games Two AND Three. Your bullpen can only do so much if they don’t get run support. You need more offense. Do it now. Next postseason, I will not be as kind.
I’m in the Corner, or Phillies Watch: NLDS
For the first time since the 1993 NLCS, the Phillies and the Atlanta Braves are facing each other in the postseason. The Braves were highly favored, as they hadn’t collapsed like the Mets and had high -
end talent in not only hitters like Dansby Swanson, but also pitchers like Max Fried. All that did give the Braves a World Series win last year. Here’s the bad news, Braves fans: you’re not the 1997-2000 Yankees. You also have the unfortunate tendency to choke hard in the postseason despite being the favorite to go farther than the division series. You shouldn’t have been surprised to see Rhys Hoskins and other Phillies hitters torch the venerated pitching rotation. JT Realmuto having an inside-the-park home run? Cool. Just keep on doing your absolutely horrible chant and expect us to mockingly do it. Burn that racist chant like Sherman burned your city.
Interim
I would mention the ALDS, but I have no stake in the Guardians or Yankees playoffs. Everyone knows that the Yankees will win as revenge for the Bug game in 2007. The Guardians used up all their surprise factors on beating the Rays. Are ya ready, Guardians? Don’t say Aye Aye, because you aren’t going to like what you’re ready for. Taking the Yankees to five games was amazing, but in the end, the Yankees have Aaron Boone. You have Terry Francona (screams in the key of September 28th, 2011). Sorry, Guardians.
HOW ABOUT THEM YANKEES?
The Yankees cratered, that much is known, and with that cratering, some sense of truth, justice, and the American Way was vindicated.
Still, Aaron Judge had a season for the ages. He surpassed Roger Maris for the most home runs in a single season, obviously ignoring whatever steroids juiced Barry Bonds’ single-season total. Congrats on your accomplishment, Aaron. Please get to a different team that won’t choke against the Astros.
I mean, when living broadcast legend BOB COSTAS says the Astros, "Overall, the Yankees' daddy is pretty clearly the Houston Astros. On the verge now of eliminating the Yankees from the postseason for the fourth time since 2015. And Yankee fans, I apologize, but these are the cold, hard facts,” you should probably leave that team entirely. Their performance in the 2022 ALCS, as well as the heartbreaking losses in 2019 and 2021, is the type of failure that takes years, if not decades, to recover from. And it looks like the Yankees are in that spot right now. Let’s just hope it isn’t as painful as it has been for the Phillies.
HARPER WITH A DRIVE: NLCS
I’m glad the Padres won against the Dodgers. The national nightmare of the Dodgers in an NLCS is over. Padres fans can come out of the shell holes. Just do not start acting like you will win the pennant. Your General manager and owner can do that for you. What do you mean, you have a rap out about how you’re going to win against us? We’re talking about the FIGHTINS! We got in on a whi,m and we are going to fight to make sure you know who we are. You talked about how Machado would win? Nope, you mentioned how Harper will lose? Well, he clinched our pennant! Schwarber hit one of the longest home runs in the postseason against one of your best pitchers! You are in the corner, and we are kissing “her” (by her, we mean the World Series).
Before I discuss the World Series, I wanted to mention how I learned about Bryce Harper’s home runFun fact: I learned about Harper’s home run from my family’s group chat. I thought we were going to go to a Game 6 in San Diego and was mentally preparing myself for that outcome. I was also at my library job at school, so I could only do so much mental preparation. And then one of my relatives texted that Harper hit a home run. I refreshed mlb.com and saw that we were leading, and then that we won the pennant! So this is what Eagles fans felt when they won the Super Bowl in 2018. Good for them. And good for us.
Trashcan Redemption: The World Series
The Astros won the World Series. Let the trashcan memes die. Please. They shellacked pretty much every team they could. Ending not only the Mariners’ and Yankees’ playoff hopes in shutouts and late-inning comebacks was just practice for us. They know that the 2017 World Series win was tainted, and every video about their players does lead to the inevitable “Astros cheated” comments. They have come so agonizingly close to winning another championship against two dream teams–the Nationals in 2019 and the Braves in 2021. They were not going to let the third time be the charm. We were the unstoppable force, and they were the immovable object.
We dented said object two to three times: Winning Game One in Minute Maid Park, shellacking Lance McCullers Jr. in Game Three (I don’t care if he was tipping pitches or not, it was a joy to watch), and leading 2-1 in a must-win Game 6. But the Astros did not budge. They no-hit the Phillies in Game Four and kept the Phillies from taking advantage of runners in scoring position in Game Five. They had Yordan Alvarez hit a go-ahead home run in Game Six, and the rest was history. The Astros won a title without cheating. Not only that, but they absolutely annihilated every team that faced them. We Phillies fans should be proud that we won a few games against them. We should also be proud that we turned a sub-.500 start of the year into a pennant. But next year, it’s championship or bust. We know our weaknesses and have cemented our strengths. In the words of Rob Thomson, who I am sure will get a free drink in every bar in Philly given how well he’s managed this team, “We got 13 wins.”