‘We all hate the Braves’: Phillies fans envision more postseason magic

Hours before the Phillies beat the Atlanta Braves, 3-0, in Game 1 of the National League Division Series on Saturday, fans in Philadelphia were reluctant to say a bad word about those 104-win Braves.

Ah, just kidding.

“Screw the Braves,” Len Puggi blurted, moments after he’d walked out of the New Era Phillies team store at Citizens Bank Park.

Puggi, 52, of Mullica Hill, N.J., recounted his new purchases — two hats, a shirt — and offered a no-nonsense appraisal of the Braves, who were widely considered the best team in Major League Baseball: “They’re arrogant, and too confident.”

Decades of disappointments have taught Philadelphians to be cautious any time a local team makes the playoffs. Among many fans, though, there seemed to be a comfortable amount of optimism about this Phillies team — especially in a rematch of last year’s NL Division Series, which saw the Phillies upset the same supposed Braves juggernaut.

As sports feuds go, Phillies-Braves doesn’t have quite the same level of history and animosity as Eagles-Cowboys, Red Sox-Yankees, Celtics-Lakers. But there is some there there.

“I don’t hate the Braves, but it’s a good rivalry,” said Jennifer Mandato, 49, after she and her husband, Philip, tried unsuccessfully to squeeze into McGillin’s Olde Ale House, on Drury Street in Center City, about a half-hour before the first pitch of Saturday night’s game.

Skeletons dangled from the front of the bar, underneath a red and blue Phillies flag, and Survivor’s Rocky III anthem, “Eye of the Tiger,” rumbled through the windows.

Mandato, of Montgomery County, said she thinks the Braves dread having to potentially play two playoff games in Philadelphia.

“I think they’re terrified. And they should be,” she said. “The vibe is good with our team.”

The Braves coasted to the playoffs throughout much the 1990s, fielding teams that were lousy with future Hall of Famers, while the Phillies suffered through a string of losing seasons that unfolded in the sparsely populated confines of the decrepit Veterans Stadium.

“I used to hate hearing that Tomahawk chop,” said Lisa MacLennan, 53, referring to the notorious chant that Braves fans bellowed for years, despite opposition from Native Americans and tribal communities, who have said the chant is racist and dehumanizing.

“At least,” MacLennan said, “we beat them in 1993.”

That October, a Phillies team full of mullets and beer bellies and swaggering personalities toppled another 104-win Braves team in the National League Championship Series.

Sure, the Phillies went on to lose in the World Series against the Toronto Blue Jays, and it would be 14 seasons before the Phillies again reached the playoffs. But fans clung to the memory of closer Mitch Williams, levitating above the field after he’d recorded the final out of the ‘93 NLCS, leaving the Braves stunned and defeated.

MacLennan drove Saturday from her home in Wilmington to visit the Eagles’ Lincoln Financial Field, and Citizens Bank Park, where she bought a Trea Turner bobble head figure.

“I’m a lifelong fan,” she said. “Some would say I’m a little crazy. But I’m optimistic. You have to be, if you’re a Phillies fan.”

MacLennan’s optimism proved to be prescient; the Braves’ historically powerful offense didn’t muster a single run Saturday night against the Phillies’ under-appreciated pitching staff.

Winds had whipped from Citizens Bank Park across Packer Avenue to XFinity Live!, where hundreds of fans braved the sudden autumn chill for a chance to watch the game together.

“If we don’t win a championship, I’m going to be depressed,” said Michael Morris, 22, who wore pinstriped overalls, similar to the ones backup catcher Garrett Stubs bought for his Phillies teammates during the summer.

“One series at a time,” cautioned Liam Roche, Morris’ friend.

“OK,” said Morris, of Philadelphia, “that’s reasonable.”

The friends recalled the euphoria that erupted last fall, when the Phillies eliminated the Braves from the playoffs.

“You could hear the cheers through the city,” Morris said.

Brian Janiczek and his girlfriend, Jillian Koehnken, attended Game 3 of that NL Division Series, when Phillies first baseman Rhys Hoskins clubbed a three-run homer off Braves pitcher Spencer Strider, then spiked his bat to the ground in celebration.

“That was beautiful,” said Janiczek, 34, a Philadelphia native. “A beautiful feeling.”

Koehnken, 29, said she was raised a New York Mets fan in Westchester County, New York. She moved to Philadelphia two years ago, began dating Janiczek, and switched to supporting the Phillies.

“It’s created a family rivalry,” she said, laughing.

Now, the couple travel to support the Phillies, including a trip to Atlanta earlier this year, when the Phillies and Braves split a four-game series in late May.

The lock screen on Janiczek’s phone shows a picture of Koehnken and him looking out onto the field at the Braves’ Truist Park — after a Phillies victory.

“Growing up here, you hate the Cowboys,” he said. “But we all hate the Braves, too.”