How a Phillies game connected a bunch of strangers (and started an epic group text chain)

As the Phillies took on the Padres on a humid night in July at Citizens Bank Park, my phone started to ding. It was a flood of messages on a text chain I call “125 Champs.”

On Oct. 22, 2022, what feels like just a couple months ago, rows of strangers and I found our way to the same place at the same time: section 125 of Citizens Bank.

Our section started out very quiet in the beginning, with people seated and little talking. I said to my boyfriend, Tom, that something felt more formal, and I wondered if it was because we were closer to the field than our usual, more boisterous 300-level crowd. In the bathroom, I called my cousin — an avid and superstitious fan — and told her that I was worried that sitting in section 125 was a jinx and we would lose (totally irrational). She gave me a pep talk, said I need to get back out there and start cheering.

So, we did. There was a large group of Padres fans and family in the section next to us. As they began cheering, we and the people in our section realized we needed to step it up. The louder we cheered, the more we started interacting and making conversation.

By the ninth inning of Game 4 of the National League Championship Series, with the score 10-6 in favor of the Phils, we were hugging, very much not dancing on our own, and discussing our families, work, and how each of us landed in those seats. We posed in photos together, knowing those images would be forever, precious keepsakes.

I don’t know if it was the adrenaline from that October win, a lack of inhibition from feeling like anything goes as that October Phillies team brought our city together, but I asked some of the people sitting around us if they’d like to exchange numbers to share the photos and videos we all gathered.

A few people gave Tom and me their numbers. That night, I sent the first group text:

This is Brigid from section 125!! Only numbers we got from our pics. GO PHILS!!!

Soon, more numbers were added, by people who got the numbers from other people in section 125 that I’d missed. The crew was growing, and is now up to seven, with two others who have stayed in the loop from their family members in the group. With names forgotten in the chaos of that game, I made up some of my own: One 125 member is still loaded in my phone as “Dude Behind Us.”

Through the rest of the 2022 season, we stayed in touch through each game. We sent selfies, emojis, and memes. We hashed out plays.

When we got into the World Series, after the celebratory texts, we started strategizing together how to get tickets to one of the championship games.

On Nov. 1, 2022, I wrote to the group: You’ll like this. I called the box office 2 times asking for tix. Kinda changed my voice the second time bc it was the same man lol

A couple members from the group did get World Series tickets, and brought us along for the ride with videos and pictures of the bedlam.

The text chain fell quiet when the series ended. Just a: “It was fun while it lasted,” and some wishes of love to the group.

Still, we kept in touch after the 2022 season ended. Some of us became friends on social media, liking each other’s pictures of family and whereabouts. The excitement picked back up when Trea Turner got signed, and of course with the Eagles’ run to the Super Bowl. It felt pretty amazing to get a random “Go Birds” text on a Sunday morning from your fellow Phillies fans.

And then, once again, serendipity.

On May 23, Tom’s birthday, we brought our kids to the game. It was the bottom of the seventh inning and Nick Castellanos had just scored the tying run. We were in Section 140, and, of course, shared pictures with the group. Just then, “Dude Behind Us” sent photos from 143 of him and his brother, also a 125 fan. No freaking way.

We are explaining all of this to our kids who already heard about the 125 crew. “You have to find them!” my 11-year-old daughter said. We began waving to each other across three sections. I snapped a picture of them from our seats, then shared it with the group.

We made a plan to meet at the Harry Kalas statue after the ninth inning. Even though Arizona scored the winning run in the eighth, when we saw ”Dude Behind Us,” we all hugged like we won the game. Our kids were so amused.

Our world is filled with depressing stories about people doing depressing things, about the widening political divide, violence, greed, and so much anger. But there are other stories. On many summer nights, there is an entire stadium filled with them.

Who knows how much the 125 Champs have in common? I have no idea who voted for who and how much money everyone makes. I am assuming we are all over the place. None of it matters.

125 Champs is proof that Philly isn’t just negativity, violence, and division. And the Phillies don’t just play a game — they bring people together. They make people happier. They form connections.

It’s because of the Phillies that a bunch of strangers found each other one night, and just like the spirit of this team, we are staying in the game together.

Who knows how long 125 Champs will go on, but I have a feeling it won’t be ending anytime soon.

Brigid Ward is a high school English teacher and a writer. She is a busy mom and an avid Philadelphia sports fan.