The team that started the season with hopes of a World Series championship ended their season against the Mets with a flat fight on Citi Field, Queens on a devastating night for Phillies fans last Wednesday night.
The final score of the NLDS defining game was 4-1, ending with the New York Mets on top and the Philadelphia Phillies walking to the dugout with their hands hanging.
“It’s really hard to come up with words how disappointed I am,“ physics teacher Mrs. Kellyann Cilio said.
Game 4 of the NLDS commenced with fans of both teams biting their nails as the first pitch was thrown. For the Phillies, a loss meant going home and hanging their uniforms up for the season. For the Mets, the chance to advance in the playoffs was on the line. The ultimate outcome of the series left the Phillies walking away with only 1 win and 3 losses.
“It was watching them not fight the way I’ve seen them fight,” chemistry teacher Mr. Peter Leaming said when asked about the Phillies’ performance Wednesday night.
Ranger Suarez took to the pitching mound for the first half of the game and managed to keep the scoreboard to a zero against the Mets. Phillies batters faced off against Jose Quintana and didn’t manage to score until the top of the fourth inning when Bryce Harper made it to home plate on a third-base fielding error by Mark Vientos.
The Philadelphia Phillies were leading by one run at the top of the sixth inning, but the score would flip with one swing of the bat by Francisco Lindor against pitcher Carlos Estévez in the bottom of the sixth for a grand slam, giving the Mets a 3 run lead.
“When the grand slam got hit, I knew that was the final thing to seal that we were coming home,” Ms. Nikki West, Executive Director of Mission and Inclusion said.
After Lindor’s grand slam, the Philadelphia Phillies could not find the fight to win the game. With failure to get any more men to home plate and countless fielding errors made by both the infield and the outfield, the Phillies had already sealed their fate by the time Kyle Schwarber struck out for the final out at the bottom of the ninth inning.
“They didn’t seem like they were willing to win,” Mr. Leaming said.
The loss has absolutely devastated Philadelphia Phillies fans, who not only have been following the Philly team for the season, but for their whole lives. After losing the World Series in 2022, the NLCS in 2023, and NLDS just last week, fans are beginning to feel disappointed and frustrated.
“We are such a passionate fan base and our players need to mirror our love for them in their dedication to the sport. This is not the team we’ve been watching this season,” Kelly McDonald ‘26 said.
Not only are fans upset at the Phillies loss, but they are disappointed in the player’s performances and absent drive to play in a way that reflects the large dollar signs next to their salaries.
“These are guys that make a lot of money to play this game, and have the talents, but for some reason didn’t have the drive that they should have had,” Ms. West said.
What turned the loss into salt in the wound for dedicated fans is the simple fact that the Phillies lost to the New York Mets, a team that the City of Brotherly Love hates from Northeast to South Philly.
“I am so upset. This was supposed to be the year that we won the World Series and we squandered the opportunity,” Rachel Phillips ‘26 said.
