Another Season, Another Heartbreak

At least the Phillies had the courtesy to put us out of our misery quickly this year.

Four postseason games. After a 162-game rollercoaster, it all ended in the blink of an eye. But maybe that’s better than blowing a 2-1 lead in the 2022 World Series or a 3-2 lead in the 2023 NLCS?

Who’s to say. The good news is someday the sun will explode and none of this will matter.

Here’s today’s newsletter.

In the email today:

• 💔 Disappointing End to a Once-Promising Phillies Season

• ↔️ Eagles to Start Cooper DeJean, Demote Avonte Maddox

• 😄 James Franklin Thinks James Franklin Is Doing a Hell of a Job

  • 📆 This Day in Philly Sports History

  • 📊 Poll

  • 🔗 Links

  • 📺 Coming Up

There is plenty of blame to go around for this Phillies postseason nightmare. But let’s take a look at the worst of the worst:

Batters

J.T. Realmuto: 11 AB, 0 H, .000/.313/.000 (.313 OPS)

Brandon Marsh: 13 AB, 1 H, .077/.077/.077 (.154 OPS)

Alec Bohm: 13 AB, 1 H, .077/.143/.077 (.220 OPS)

Austin Hays and Weston Wilson combined: 7 AB, 0 H, .000/.000/.000 (.000 OPS)

Kyle Schwarber: 16 AB, 2 H, .125/.263/.313 (.576 OPS)

Trea Turner: 15 AB, 3 H, .200/.294/.200 (.494 OPS)

Pitchers

Jeff Hoffman: 40.50 ERA in 1.1 innings

Jose Alvarado: 27.00 ERA in 0.2 innings

Matt Strahm: 18.00 ERA in 2.0 innings

Tanner Banks: 9.00 ERA in 1.0 inning

Aaron Nola: 7.20 ERA in 5 innings

Jose Ruiz: 6.75 ERA in 1.1 innings

Carlos Estevez: Gave up the grand slam to Francisco Lindor to end it all.

Is it fair to use stats like OPS and ERA with such a small sample size? Probably not. But they’re not exactly misleading. This NLDS against the Mets was a spectacular failure on all fronts.

Shout-out to the few guys who showed up. Zack Wheeler, Bryce Harper, Nick Castellanos… uh… Ranger Suarez? The hardworking ushers at Citizens Bank Park? That’s really about it.

If you can stomach it, the On Pattison team has thorough coverage on game four of the NLDS and its aftermath here.

Another day, another personnel shift for the Eagles. Apparently, being both one play away from 3-1 (the Saquon Barkley drop against the Falcons) and one play away from 1-3 (the entire end of the Saints game) isn’t sitting well with Nick Sirianni.

That’s a concise summary of where the Eagles defense stands right now, i.e., it’s either a work in progress or a new fire drill conducted on every defensive snap depending on your point of view.

We don’t want to throw too much cold water on this move or the report. We notice, though, that these sorts of developments are dressed up with language like “a second-rounder with first-round talent” every time a move like this happens.

And yeah, we’re not asking anyone to say “the Eagles just moved around deck chairs on the Titanic with this decision.” Hope is a good thing, etc.

Then again, speaking of Devin White:

Essentially, then, this DeJean move will be considered brilliant if it works and forgotten quickly and moved on from if it doesn’t.

Insofar as Maddox is probably also not long for the Eagles, they’re definitely hoping for “brilliant.”

As my Constitutional Law professor at the Dickinson School of Law of the Pennsylvania State University once put it, there are “lies, damned lies, and statistics.”

This eternal truth came to mind the other day when James Franklin had the temerity to say the following with a straight face as though it meant anything at all:

The recent Presidential and Vice-Presidential debates breathed new life into the concept of fact-checking. So let’s do some fact-checking on Franklin’s boast.

Yes, Penn State did start 5-0 in each of the last five seasons. Context matters though. Here’s who they played in the first five games of each of those seasons:

• 2024: at West Virginia, Bowling Green, Kent State, #19 Illinois, UCLA…four home games, two MAC opponents, one ranked opponent

• 2023: West Virginia, Delaware, at Illinois, #24 Iowa, at Northwestern…three home games, one non-major conference opponent, one ranked opponent

• 2022: at Purdue, Ohio, at Auburn, Central Michigan, Northwestern…three home games, two MAC opponents, zero ranked opponents

• 2021: at #12 Wisconsin, Ball State, #22 Auburn, Villanova(!!!), Indiana…four home games, one non-major conference opponent, two ranked opponents

That 2021 year is the belle of the ball, until you see that the 2021 Nittany Lions lost six of their last eight games after going 5-0.

To further recap: In these 20 wins Franklin is crowing about, they beat one ranked team on the road, never played a team ranked higher than 12th, and played 14 of the 20 games in Happy Valley.

It’s definitely one of the best times in Penn State history to start 5-0:

Once the NCAA expanded the playoff field to 12 teams, Penn State’s scheduled loss to Ohio State (November 2, in Happy Valley) no longer doomed them to the likes of the Outback Bowl.

As it stands, Ohio State is the only other ranked team on Penn State’s schedule. Sounds familiar, right?

We can only imagine what Franklin might say if his team runs the table. In a very real sense, we hope it happens.

📆 This Day in Philly Sports History

On October 10, 2010, Cole Hamels threw a shutout to finish off an NLDS sweep of the Reds.

📊 Poll

Results from Wednesday:

🔗 Links

• 💋 At least Sabrina Carpenter did everything she could to boost the Phillies.

• 🏒 In case you missed it, the Utah Hockey Club won its first-ever NHL game.

• 🎾 Wimbledon will no longer use human line judges.

• ⚽️ The future looks bright for the Union, as three of its young starlets (Jack McGlynn, Quinn Sullivan and Cavan Sullivan) made MLS’ 22 Under 22 list.

• 🏌️‍♂️”The Showdown” will feature Rory McIroy and Scottie Scheffler against Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau in Las Vegas on December 17.

📺 Coming Up

No local games today.

Thanks for reading. See you tomorrow.

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