The small joys of Phillies fandom

Yesterday in Houston, the Phillies clinched a spot in the post-season for the first time in 11 years, with SP Aaron Nola going perfect for 6+ innings and OF Kyle Schwarber continuing his Rob Deer 2022 impersonation by leaving the yard twice. This ends the current longest post-season drought in MLB. They'll play on Friday against St. Louis or New York, have a puncher's chance behind Nola and SP Zach Wheeler, and consider themselves fortunate to be playing extra baseball despite being left for dead in May. All good, right? 

Well, kind of. The problem for the Phillies is that with any amount of good, you get an equal or greater measure of Oh Good Lord. Consider:

> The best players on the team this year (Nola, C JT Realmuto) are anti-vax asshats that cost their team dearly in a series in Toronto. They aren't alone in this selfishness.

> The bullpen is a constant churn of Who's Good Now, with little consistency from week to week, let alone month to month. Nearly a dozen pitchers have recorded saves for the team this year. Even when they are good, as they have been for much of the year, they induce anxiety.

> The team isn't particularly young, cheap, lovable and thriving. The best players are already at their peak or descending, and in a division with New York and Atlanta, this makes you third place all day. The ceiling for this team is more or less where they are: around 90 wins. Whoop de damn do!

> There's like a half dozen guys on this team who have played long and lucrative careers without even sniffing the playoffs, even in an age where it's easier and easier to get into them. That's kind of telling.

> This is basically a .500 team if you don't count their speed bag games against a deplorable Washington team. If you wanted to define Paper Tiger or Empty Threat, this is your line up.

And yet... a half dozen guys in the starting lineup can reach the seats with relative regularity, and in the sad state that is baseball in 2022, where no one can string three hits in a row any more unless they all leave the yard, that matters a lot. The defense is no longer a complete train wreck. It's more fun when the local team is good, and right now, with the exception of the Flyers (and I stopped caring about hockey this century), it's a great time to be a Philly sports fan. There's something to positive civic momentum.

Do I really think they can win a series, let alone a dozen plus playoff games? Not especially, unless they have another gear of House Money Fun Time that they weren't showing during a stumblebum September. OF Bryce Harper isn't healthy or himself, and the rest of the mashers don't really do much against, you know, good pitchers. 

But it's baseball. In October. For a franchise that won't break your heart, because they've shown you many times over that you shouldn't give it to them. Yay!