Bring on the Braves: Phillies show they have World Series stuff with sweep of Cardinals

ST. LOUIS — All of them had been there except for one. The goggles had been donned and the song used to be on and the corks had been popping in a 12-gun salute. The postseason’s largest wild playing cards had been accumulated in the again of the customer’s clubhouse looking forward to the phrase move. A couple of mins after 11 p.m., a half of hour after the Phillies recorded the largest ultimate out in the final 11 years of their franchise, the toastmaster arrived. Wearing a Red October T-Shirt and a hat cocked fairly to the aspect, Rob Thomson grabbed a bottle of champagne and checked out the semicircle of gamers who had accumulated round him.

He spoke in his same old even tone, his voice simply audible sufficient. He mentioned the workforce they had overwhelmed, and the manner they had overwhelmed them. He mentioned their protection and their pitching and their unselfish at-bats: the pitches taken, the bunts laid, the runners moved alongside.

First, regardless that, he raised his bottle and spoke six phrases that most probably didn’t want to be spoken in any respect.

“I’m so proud of you guys,” Thomson stated.

They knew it and he knew that they knew it and nonetheless he stated it as it used to be the maximum essential factor on his thoughts. The Phillies had now not simply swept the Cardinals, or clinched a go back and forth to the National League Division Series with a 2-0 victory at Busch Stadium on Saturday night time. The earlier three-and-a-half hours were a residing testomony to the graves that such a lot of of them had risen from.

Five months in the past, Alec Bohm used to be hating his town, most probably hating himself, his three-error recreation in mid-April leaving many to marvel how the Phillies may live to tell the tale a season with this kind of legal responsibility at 3rd base. On Saturday, he used to be robbing the Cardinals of two doubles down the left-field line. Two months in the past, Zach Eflin used to be dressed in a knee brace and questioning whether or not his knee would ever be proper. Forget about the season — what about his profession? On Saturday, he used to be recording his moment clinching save in per week, pitching a scoreless 9th to fasten down this best-out-of-three sequence.

Aaron Nola? He received every other of the ones large video games that many insisted had been past his achieve. Bryce Harper? His second-inning house run gave them the respiring room they’d want to give him the first playoff sequence victory of his profession.

And, yeah, Thomson used to be there too. The 59-year-old meantime supervisor with a life-time in a recreation that constantly made up our minds he may now not carry out in its final management function? Yeah, he maximum unquestionably used to be there too.

“He’s a baseball lifer,” Bohm stated. “He’s at the field before anyone, there after everyone leaves. He’s our heart and soul, really. Just steady every day, keeps us calm, keeps us where we need to be. I think he’s the right man to lead us. He’s been great from us.”

Payback’s a Bryce.

And a Nola. And a Wheeler. And a Bohm.

Eleven years after the Cardinals received two video games at Citizens Bank Park and ended an technology, the Phillies walked into Busch Stadium and passed two, in all probability 3, St. Louis legends their very own unsatisfied trails.

Nobody in the champagne-soaked customer’s clubhouse used to be desirous about Yadier Molina or Albert Pujols. They weren’t desirous about whether or not or now not Adam Wainwright would sign up for them in retirement. They weren’t desirous about 2011. Who is aware of what number of will even take into account that some distance. Yet from the point of view of the Phillies group as a complete, it’s unattainable to split what the present model of the 26-man roster completed on Saturday night time from that lovely loss to the Cardinals in the National League Division sequence 11 years in the past.

They didn’t exorcise the demon. Let’s be transparent about that. This used to be just a first step, a small and belated stride in the course of a go back to greatness. Yet it used to be one thing. Very a lot one thing. Progress. That’s what it used to be.

It’s an entity that has felt in fatally quick provide for a lot of the final 11 years. There had been occasions whilst you puzzled whether or not it used to be even possible. The nature of infinity made it a close to simple task that the Phillies would go back to postseason relevance once or more ahead of the Earth crashed into the solar. But when they had been 8 video games beneath .500 in May, the inevitable nonetheless felt love it used to be mild years away.

Now?

By beating the Cardinals, the Phillies ensured that their first postseason since that loss to St. Louis would come with a house playoff recreation.

“It’s huge,” Thomson stated. “It really is. They’ve been waiting a long time. And, eventually, we’re coming home, and we got those passionate fans that are going to be there on our side, and so there’s a lot of people involved. The organization, the city, and our players, you know. A lot of these guys haven’t been in this situation. And that’s what I’m really proud about is that there’s so many guys that have never played in the playoffs, and they played really well. You know, it’s like the moment didn’t get the best of them, and I’m happy about that.”

They can beat the Braves.

Will they? I’d guess your cash on it, regardless that most probably now not mine. But I additionally wouldn’t guess towards it. And neither would any one who felt the power that used to be provide as the Phillies spilled out of the customer’s dugout at Busch Stadium on Saturday night time.

“I can promise you that nobody’s excited to play the Phillies right now,” catcher J.T. Realmuto stated. “So we’re in a good spot.”

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