Phillies Complete 2022 Postseason Field

When the Seattle Mariners ended their 21-year postseason drought on September 30, 2022, the Philadelphia Phillies ended up becoming the new owners of the longest current postseason drought in MLB...for three days. At the time of Seattle's clinch, the Phils were on their own path, and on October 3, 2022, it was completed. The Phillies defeated the Houston Astros, 3-0, to clinch the last overall remaining spot in the 2022 MLB Postseason, and end a drought that lasted 11 years.

The Phillies' last postseason took place all the way back in 2011. You know how long ago that was? Back then, there was only ONE Wild Card per league (that changed on the following year), and their opponents, the Houston Astros, were in the National League (until two years later). During that time, the Phillies were enjoying a stretch of five consecutive National League East titles, which began in 2007 when they came back from a seven-game deficit with 2.5 weeks remaining, and ended up winning the division over the New York Mets by one game. They were swept on the National League Division Series by the red-hot Colorado Rockies, but it was only the beginning.

2008 saw the Phillies go on to win the World Series in five games over the Tampa Bay Rays, and they would return a year later in 2009, only to be defeated in six games by the New York Yankees. In 2010, they made their third trip to the National League Championship Series, but were ousted by the eventual World Champion San Francisco Giants, and 2011 saw them beaten by the St. Louis Cardinals, who went from being eight games out of the Wild Card spot, to World Champions.

The Phillies' postseason berth proved what I had been saying for three years: Joe Girardi held this team back. I'm a Yankees fan who had to deal with watching Girardi's incompetence as the team's manager, so I knew when the Phillies hired Girardi as their skipper in 2019, they were screwed. Seriously, how do you have the best hitter in baseball (Bryce Harper), one of the best hitting catchers in baseball (J.T. Realmuto), one of the best hitting shortstops in baseball (Didi Gregorius--until 2022), a loaded lineup full of good hitters, yet never reach the postseason?! The answer can be summed up in two words: Joe Girardi. I said year after year that the Phillies should fire Girardi, and they finally did so in June of 2022. They were under .500 and sputtering, but once Girardi was gone, the Phillies got on the ball and reached the postseason.

One player who has to feel relieved is Bryce Harper, who is in his fourth year with the Phillies after 7 with the Washington Nationals. As I said before, Bryce Harper is the best hitter in baseball, but unfortunately, he has the same problem that has plagued the NHL's Auston Matthews: he's never won a postseason series. When Harper was leading the Nationals to all those division titles, they would have problems winning the Division Series. Even worse, in Harper's first year with the Phillies, the Nationals went on their big run--even clinching the National League pennant on Harper's birthday, which they turned into a World Championship. This is Harper's first postseason as a Phillie, and his first overall since 2017.

So with that, the 12 postseason teams are set in this first year under the current format. Three NL East teams are postseason bound, with the Phillies cemented as a Wild Card. The Phillies will face either the St. Louis Cardinals (their opponents in their last postseason appearance) or whoever finishes as the runner up in the NL East. The 2022 MLB Postseason begins on October 7 with the Wild Card Series.