Phillies prepare for third straight postseason run: ‘This is the standard’ for this team now

"The goal now is to win it all," manager Rob Thomson says. "And that’s a really good feeling to have.”

The Phillies have made the playoffs three seasons in a row for the third time in the 142-season history of the franchise.Read moreMonica Herndon / Staff Photographer

Published Sept. 22, 2024, 3:06 p.m. ET

NEW YORK — There will be ample opportunity over these next two, or four, or six weeks to debate this pitching move or that lineup decision. And rest assured, as armchair managers, we will.

Right now, though, let’s focus more on something Rob Thomson said.

Because after the Phillies’ division-clinching celebration got placed on temporary hold Saturday night, and as they awaited a nationally televised 7:15 p.m. first pitch here Sunday, the manager’s words rang in our ears.

“This is the standard. The goal is now firmly entrenched, that it’s to win a World Series. And that’s it. That’s good to feel. It really is.”

That was Friday night, after the Phillies locked up a playoff spot for the third season in a row. And the juxtaposition to the last two years was undeniable.

In 2022, it went down to the third-to-last game of the season to clinch the last National League playoff spot and end a decadelong postseason drought. There wasn’t nearly as much drama in the wild-card race last September, but still, the Phillies partied hard into the wee hours of the morning.

This time, Thomson called together players and staff for a champagne toast, and well, that was that. Glasses were raised, though most remained nearly full before being abandoned on a table in the clubhouse.

Oh, the Phillies did intend to rage, but not until they won the division, and there was no greater testament to how high the bar has been raised. Two years ago, getting into the playoffs was everything for a franchise that hadn’t been there since 2011. Now, it’s the expectation.

As Thomson put it, the “standard.”

“It’s difficult to come into a season where you just want to get better,” Thomson said. “You just want to get to .500, or you just want to get to the postseason. The goal now is to win it all. And that’s a really good feeling to have.”

The tone is set at the ownership level. Financially, John Middleton was every bit as pot-committed two years ago. Emotionally, though, it runs even deeper now.

Middleton poured nearly $240 million into the 2022 roster and finally got champagne poured over his head in a playoff-clinching party 10 years in the making. As he told The Inquirer that night in Houston, “Learning to win is really a big deal in an athlete’s life — frankly, in any profession but particularly athletes. Nobody should underestimate how important it is.”

Sure, but after the Phillies got over that hurdle and blissfully advanced all the way to Game 6 of the World Series, Middleton figured it was time to scale the mountain. He bought $300 million shortstop Trea Turner, and the Phillies went on another deep run last October before fizzling at home in Games 6 and 7 of the NL Championship Series.

Disappointed? No, that didn’t adequately sum up Middleton’s feelings.

“I’m angry,” he said in February, four months after the last NLCS out was recorded. “It’s a funny word to use, but when you lose like that, I get angry. And frankly, if people don’t get at least a little angry, I’m not sure you care enough.”

So, Middleton stood in the clubhouse before the Phillies’ first full-squad workout of spring training and let everyone know that he would settle for nothing less than winning the World Series.

“That was the most fired up I think I’ve ever seen him,” second baseman Bryson Stott said then.

At times, the journey felt less joyful. The Phillies sprinted to their fastest start ever, winning 37 of the first 51 games and 45 of 64. Yet despite playing at a ridiculous pace, Thomson noted that the 116-win Mariners didn’t win it all in 2001.

Thomson did acknowledge that getting to the postseason for a third year in a row for only the third time in franchise history was nothing to sneeze at, especially for a franchise that has existed since 1883.

But Middleton’s stated goal during a visit to Las Vegas to recruit Bryce Harper in the 2018-19 offseason — and in repeated don’t-take-no-for-an-answer pitches to hire Dave Dombrowski two winters later — was to build an organization that would contend for a World Series just about every year.

The Dodgers do that. The Yankees, too. And the Braves and Astros.

Can it really be that the Phillies — The Phillies! — with all of 58 winning seasons out of 142, have moved into that class?

“You look around and see all the talent,” said Alec Bohm, drafted in 2018 when the Phillies were still in the darkness and part of the 2020 and 2021 teams that went home after the regular season. “You see all the guys; you see the front office and the moves they make. You look at it on paper at the beginning of the year, and this team should be in the playoffs.

“Not everyone gets a chance to play for the World Series every year.”

But that’s the Phillies’ new reality. It’s their standard.