Phillies fans mourn postseason elimination after loss to Mets: ‘What are we doing here?!’

The dogs in Rittenhouse Square had shed their red bandannas. Their humans left their red caps at home.

It was only the morning of Oct. 10, but it might as well have been Nov. 1. Red October was over.

The Phillies were eliminated from the postseason Wednesday by the New York Mets, losing the series 3-1 to their divisional nemesis.

“We could have done it,” a disappointed Ivana Gonzalez, a 33-year-old from Brewerytown, said Thursday morning outside her workplace at City Hall. “We can’t win against their bullpen?! What are we doing here?!”

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It wasn’t supposed to go this way. The Phillies broke a decadelong playoff drought in 2022, and went on a magical run to the World Series as underdogs. The following season they were choppy, but exploded in Red October to destroy the rival Atlanta Braves. But then the bats went cold against the Arizona Diamondbacks, and a return to the World Series stayed out of reach.

This was supposed to be the year. The “day care” players are now grown men with postseason experience. Bryce “The Showman” Harper seemed ready for another MVP-level season. A standing ovation the previous summer allegedly fixed Trea Turner. And the Phillies pitching came out of the gate with some of the best stuff in the league.

For much of the season, Philadelphians could be obnoxious in group chats proclaiming to their out-of-town friends that the Fightin’ Phils had the best record in baseball.

And every time the Phillies stumbled in the regular season — if bats went cold, a starting pitcher was shaky, or the bullpen gave up a game — it was OK, the Phillies assured their fans, because just you wait for October to come around.

And then October came and went in a blink of an eye.

“Come October, the season starts over,” said Marty Goldis, a customer at Reading Terminal Market who lives in Fairmount. “When it counted, it went downhill.”

Brian Phillips, who co-owns Famous 4th Street Cookie Co., nodded as Goldis spoke.

“It’s a disappointing end to what seemed like it was going to be a magical season,” he said.

Both Phillips and Goldis said that while they were disappointed, they found last year’s elimination — at home, with a National League Championship Series lead, just a win away from the World Series — even more painful.

Sipping coffee and reading the newspaper, Kevin L. Brown, 57, of North Philadelphia, disagreed.

“[This year] hurts more because they only won one game,” Brown said. “I thought they were going to go all the way.”

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There were almost no Phillies caps in Reading Terminal Market Thursday morning. One man, wearing a blue-and-red Phillies hat, distanced the accessory from team fandom.

“It’s just a hat. I’m not a fan anymore after last night,” he said as he walked away from a reporter.

Other fans just shrugged.

“I was enthused at first, like every year,” said Calvin Williams, 69, from North Philadelphia. “Nothing surprising here.”

On Chestnut Street in Center City, Lee Yogel was one of the few people brandishing his Philly fandom Thursday morning with a red Phillies hat.

”It’s disappointing,” the lifelong fan from Cherry Hill said. “The Mets blew them out, and I hate the Mets.”

Yogel, 63, has had his fair share of disappointments from Philly sports. But he is not ready to give up.

”We still got the Birds,” Yogel said. But after a pause, he added: “Hopefully.”