Tonight Being The First Ever Game 7 In The Phillies' 140 Year History Is The Most Preposterous Stat In Sports
Rob Tringali. Getty Images.The Philadelphia Phillies have been a franchise since 1883. They've been around for longer than cars, yet somehow they have never played in a game 7 until tonight.
And listen. I get it. In those 140 years, the Phillies have only made the postseason 16 times. They haven't necessarily had a ton of chances to play in a game 7, especially considering plenty of series are only best-of-5. It's not like the Phillies have never played in a final do-or-die elimination game before. They played a game 5 against St. Louis in the 2011 NLDS, but we don't have to talk about that.
This is the 14th best-of-7 series the Phillies have ever played in, and it's the first to go to a game 7. And for some reason with this team, it just makes sense. Don't get me wrong. This isn't a "I wouldn't want it any other way" type of situation. Clearly I would have loved for the Phillies to wrap this series up in 5 or 6 games. The fact that this is going to a game 7 is going to make today the most excruciating 11 or so hours until that first pitch at 8:07 tonight. But something about this team just feels like they were destined to hold the collective psyche and emotion of all of Philadelphia in their hands for the next 27 outs.
The relationship between this specific group of Phillies and the city is clearly a special one. I can't remember a team who has been more connected with Philly than the 2023 Philadelphia Phillies. Mike Richards and Jeff Carter were certainly connected with everybody's older sister throughout those runs with the Flyers, but that's different. For better or for worse, tonight's game 7 is going to amplify how we remember this team forever. And that's the beauty of life right there. That's the beauty of sports. There's obviously a chance for heart break tonight. You'd be a fool to not at least consider the fact that it could be over when we go to sleep tonight. But there's also a chance for this team to become the biggest group of legends we've ever had the opportunity to witness, and a team that you tell your great grandchildren about what it was like to watch. It would have been nice to wrap this thing up in 5 games like we all thought was going to happen, but getting a chance to win the first ever game 7 in team history just seems more memorable.
Lock it in. Burn the boats. And let this team go out and make the history they were destined for.