Heading into the postseason, the Phillies were coming off one of the best records in the league and winning their division for the first time since 2011. Then they lost the NLDS to their biggest rivals, the New York Mets.

After making two deep runs in the playoffs back-to-back, the Phillies and their fans were optimistic coming into the 2024-25 season, hoping yet again to regain their World Series glory that they had more than a decade ago. After an impressive first half of the season from the team, with a franchise-record eight players making the All-Star game, the Phillies failure to make it past the NLDS was an unfortunate end to their hot start.

When asked about the Mets, Upper School history teacher and long-time Phillies fan Dr. Richards said, “I thought the Mets were like the new Phillies, they’re a team that got hot. They’re slaying the giant, like the Phillies were with the Braves. They seemed like a scrappy team. The Phillies had not been playing well. All of those reasons made me nervous about the playoffs.”

Having split their games 33-33 after the All-Star break, it seemed like the Phillies had lost their momentum by the postseason. The Mets, however, were still riding their hot streak when the NLDS came around.

Mets fan Ben Shmelzer said, “My mindset in it was, they have nothing to lose, so just go out there and try and win.”

The Mets would go on to win and would make it to the NLCS against the Dodgers, where they had a chance to make the World Series before eventually falling short.

Since the Phillies season is over, it’s likely that many Phillies fans are looking into the future.

“I like to think that they’re going to go out and try and get one more solid starting pitcher to help bolster that rotation,” said Coach Brown, the Upper School baseball coach, when asked about the offseason. “It’s a long season, and it’s just hard to do that all year long. It’s 162 games, and a lot of things have to go right.”