What Went Wrong: Nearly Three Hours of Red October

You know, I do love that the Philadelphia Phillies' postseasons have always been known as "Red October." It's an obvious play on the famous war film, The Hunt for Red October, but still, it fits them. Despite the fact that they're not the only team in MLB who wears red, I think "Red October" solely fits the Phils. I don't know when that started; the easy answer would be "since they've had Bryce Harper," but I want to say I heard "Red October" as early as 2011.

In any event, the Phillies were four years removed from their Cinderella run to the pennant, but they were coming off a very disastrous end to last year. This year, the Phils entered September with a good chance of getting in. The division may have been out of reach, but they entered the final two weekends of the season five games ahead of the playoff line. Entering Game 162? One game lead and possibly facing elimination. Thankfully, the Phils got the win on the final day, and got in.

Their opponents were the Atlanta Braves. No problem, right? Phillies have always beaten the Braves in the postseason. Except Game One was lost thanks to a late three-run HR by Austin Riley. It looked like it would be over for the Phils in Game Two, but the usual suspects (Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper) came through with back-to-back HRs in the 8th to tie it, and Alec Bohm's solo shot in the 10th won it. So the Phils did make it to Red October, playing on the first day of the month. The only pure elimination game in this year's Wild Card Series, and it saw the Braves strike first and never look back. 6-2 was the final score in Atlanta's favor.

The Phillies' Red October lasted less than three hours.

As a Yankees fan, I'm partial to Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton, but holy cow, this duo of Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper really shows out! These two have been clobbering the ball together in Philly for years, and they did it again in the postseason. Schwarber went 4-for-11 in the series, including the homer he hit in Game Two. Bryce Harper: 3-for-13, including the game-tying homer, but he struck out five times. Alec Bohm went 4-for-12, which included his game-winning homer in that same game. The trio drove in six of the team's nine runs. J.T. Realmuto had two of the other three RBIs, but went 2-for-10, and while Trea Turner had the other RBI, he continued to be the useless lump he's always been, going 1-for-11. The team also missed Luis Arráez as well, as he missed the rest of the regular season due to an ankle injury, and wasn't cleared to be part of his first postseason with Philly.

And with that, the Division Series field is complete! The Atlanta Braves, having disposed of the red monster (the Looney Tunes fan in me couldn't help but say that), now head off to the City of Angels to face off against the back-to-back defending champs. As for the City of Brotherly Love, this is the second straight year that a Phillies postseason elimination is art of a bad period for Philadelphia sports. In less than a week, Philadelphia has seen their Eagles blasted in embarrassing fashion (and now their top WR is injured), the Flyers lost their home opener, 7-0, to the Penguins, and now this. At least you guys now have LeBron James? The Phillies have an interesting offseason, especially when it comes to their manager, Don Mattingly. Will Donnie Baseball still serve as Philly's skipper?