Trea Turner signs. Jalen Hurts is MVP of the 11-1 Eagles. James Harden’s back. Philly sports look great.

It may not always be perfect, but there's something to cheer for right now across the Philly sports landscape.

The Phillies made one of the biggest splashes of the offseason when they signed Trea Turner. It's one example of how Philly sports keep winning.Read moreElizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer

Published Dec. 10, 2022, 5:00 a.m. ET

Philly’s on fire.

A year ago, Philadelphia’s sporting future looked as bleak as its spartan past.

Jalen Hurts was a bad quarterback on a losing Eagles team coached by a nobody. Joe Girardi and the Phillies had faded down the stretch, again. Ben Simmons was boycotting the Sixers, citing a bogus and endless mental health crisis that disappeared as soon as he left sight of the Delaware River. And the Flyers had just fired coach Alain Vigneault.

Now, the hits just keep on coming.

The Phillies, once the misers of the Majors, on Thursday inked their fifth player in the past 3½ years in to a nine-figure contract. Trea Turner, the class of the 2022 free-agent class, signed an 11-year, $300 million deal. Three hundred million dollars, and it’s nowhere near the biggest story of the past calendar year.

It’s not even the biggest story of the autumn for a city once bereft of hope but now awash in success and potential. The landscape has changed.

Phillies

Turner has become a Phillie for life, returning to his bride’s home region with a deal that includes a no-trade clause and no opt-outs. He did so in the afterglow of the team’s first playoff berth in 11 years, which they rode all the way to their first National League pennant in 13 years. Phillies president Dave Dombrowski (and Bryce Harper) convinced owner John Middleton to exceed the luxury tax for the first time to bolster the bullpen and to flesh out the lineup with $79 million slugger Kyle Schwarber and $100 million hitter Nick Castellanos last offseason.

This offseason, Harper lobbied for his old Nationals teammate Turner, who, against all odds, saw Philly as his best option.

He landed in Philly for a $42 million discount over what the Padres offered him because, as a former National, he wanted to return to the East Coast, where every game matters; he wanted to Dance on his Own with Bryce Harper & Co.; and, more than anything, he wanted to feel the electricity he witnessed during the eight playoff games at Citizens Bank Park.

It was impossible to imagine this sort of coup this time last year. Aaron Nola, a lifeless lineup, and a listless bullpen had bombed in September (again). In 2022, Nola and the bullpen carried the club through September to the third wild card seed.

Dombrowski also has spent major cash on a fourth starter, Taijuan Walker, inked lefty reliever Matt Strahm, and, come April, the Bank will be rocking like it’s July 2009.

Eagles

The only thing that could matter more than the Phillies improving a World Series roster is the Eagles fielding the best team in the NFL with an MVP candidate, which is an astounding turn of events.

This time last year, Hurts had just played the worst game of his brief career, a three-interception debacle at the Giants. His passer rating was 83.9, one of the worst among NFL starters, and he’d missed a game with an ankle injury that would require postseason surgery. The Eagles that Howie Roseman had built were a flawed team that eked into the playoffs but Hurts, first-year head coach Nick Sirianni, and the defense clearly didn’t belong.

A year later? The Eagles are 11-1, Hurts is an MVP candidate, Sirianni’s a coach of the year favorite, Roseman should win executive of the year for the second time five years, and they’re a touchdown favorite heading back to the Giants on Sunday.

Sixers

The absence of Simmons gave Tyrese Maxey minutes, and Maxey blossomed into a star in his second NBA season.

The trade of Simmons to the Nets in February reaped former MVP James Harden. Harden wasn’t fully healthy last season, and, after he signed for a Philly discount, he’s missed 14 games so far this year, and he still doesn’t play well with Joel Embiid. But the team is in a much better place than it was a year ago ... no matter how you feel about coach Doc Rivers.

Flyers

The Flyers replaced Vigneault with assistant Mike Yeo, who initially gave the team a bit of a spark. Eventually, injuries and the ineptness of Chuck Fletcher’s roster torpedoed any chance at a playoff run. Yeo is gone, too.

The Flyers replaced him with fiery John Tortorella, which, if it has not changed their fortunes, it has, at least delighted the fans. Fletcher’s days seem numbered, so the team now effectively is Tortorella’s.

Torts trusts his process.

We all know how that usually works out.