Flipping a switch the way these Phillies hoped was unrealistic

NEW YORK — Somewhere along the way, the Phillies stopped being the team that lost only five of its first 30 series. The starting pitching began to show signs of mortality, the early leads weren’t as plentiful, the situational hitting less consistent.

They spent the entire second half showing they weren’t that team anymore, that their first 3½ months might have been flukily hot.

And they proved it this past week in the NLDS, losing three of four to a Mets team that thoroughly outplayed them in all phases.

The Phillies are headed home early. They were serenaded pregame with a “Pack your golf clubs” chant from Mets fans behind the visiting dugout, and now they will.

“It’s hard to stay hot for 162 games,” J.T. Realmuto said in an expectedly catatonic clubhouse.

“We were just hoping — we knew we weren’t playing our best baseball coming into the postseason but we were hoping that once the lights turned on, we’d flip the switch and our offense would get back going. It just didn’t happen for us.”

The Phillies were 62-33 leading into the final weekend before the All-Star break. They were 33-34 the rest of the way. Including the playoffs, they went 34-37 over a span nearly the length of a half-season.

They got hot again for three weeks from August 24 through September 15, going 16-5, but did not finish strong, losing eight of 13.

While the Mets were coming back twice on the Brewers to advance in the wild-card round, the Phillies spent their bye week trying to replicate game action. Now they know how the 2022 and ’23 Braves feel.

“Didn’t finish the job. Just got to be better, got to finish the job,” Bryce Harper said. “… If it’s the next round or the World Series round, it all feels pretty similar.”

The Phillies knew this was going to be a difficult series because they were looking at a mirror image of themselves from 2022. That club got hot at the right time, finished the season and went into the playoffs on a gruelingly long road trip and kept upsetting teams with clutch hits and comebacks. The magical ride ended in Game 6 of the World Series.

Sometimes ignorance can be bliss. That group didn’t quite realize that it could keep improving but fall even shorter.

“You really have to play your best baseball at the right time,” Realmuto said. “We showed this year that we just weren’t doing that. We were as talented or more talented than anyone in the league but you’ve got to be playing your best baseball at the right time.”

“In ’22, we were just riding that wave, we were that team, we were the Mets, we were the team that got hot at the right time and took our talent and played free. That’s what they did to us this series.”

Adding to the disappointment is the sobering reality that these players aren’t getting any younger. Will Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola and Cristopher Sanchez each make 32 starts next season? Will Harper, Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos play 145-plus games again? Will Matt Strahm, Orion Kerkering and Jeff Hoffman (if he’s brought back in free agency) be as overpowering in the regular season?

None of this is guaranteed. What is guaranteed is that the 2025 club won’t look exactly the same.

“Winning a championship is the hardest thing in sports,” said Alec Bohm, who went 1-for-13 in the series without an RBI. “We’re trying to do it in what we all think is the hardest sport to play. So obviously it’s never going to be easy. We’re not entitled to anything. The ball didn’t bounce our way this time. But we got a little extra time over the offseason now to clear our heads and come back ready to fight for it again.

“I definitely think we’re all tough enough to get back on the horse and come back and get back to where we want to be. For sure.”

The question is how many of them. Among the position players, Harper, Schwarber, Realmuto and Trea Turner will obviously be back. Everything else is unclear. If the Phillies are being honest with themselves, they’ll realize they can’t run back most of the same offense next season and just hope for improvement or a more timely hot streak.

“Obviously, we’re gonna have some guys that are out of this clubhouse,” Harper said. “That’s a job for Dave (Dombrowski) and John (Middleton) to figure out what they want to do.

“… We’ve got a great group of guys in here, really good core, just weren’t able to get the job done.”

There were so many reasons for Phillies fans to be disappointed by the 2024 NLDS and one of them is that their biggest overall advantage, having Wheeler, was nullified. The bye allowed them to set up their rotation for Wheeler to start Game 1 and a potential do-or-die Game 5, which never came.

He’s become one of the most historically dominant pitchers in MLB postseason history, but the Phillies’ offense and bullpen didn’t give him a chance to impact the series one more time.

All they needed was one win on Tuesday or Wednesday to get themselves back home with the best starting pitcher in baseball on the mound.

“It’s just disappointing,” Wheeler said. “Obviously, wanted to get to Game 5 but didn’t get there. If we did, I was gonna be ready.

“That’s why they always say just get to the playoffs and see what happens. They’re hot right now. We knew that coming in. I don’t think we played up to our standard. That’s it.”

So much more could have been said, but sometimes words fail. Sometimes offenses fail, too.