October 16, 2022

Shamus Clancy: Shut up about your 100-win team losing in the playoffs

Just shut up.

By Shamus Clancy
PhillyVoice Staff

Philadelphia is the center of the sports world at the moment. The Eagles are 5-0 and have a gigantic Sunday Night Football matchup with the Cowboys looming. The Sixers have some championship buzz. The Phillies, of course, are on an improbable run to the NLCS. The pessimistic Philadelphian might say that they're waiting for the other shoe to inevitably drop, but, hey, I say ride the wave.

The vibes are tremendous. The energy is infectious. Citizens Bank Park has been reborn. People are piling into tailgate lots down at the Sports Complex for the Dallas game as I type this. Twitter is a supremely negative hellscape that I have become addicted to, but even the most outrageous of Philly sports fans on there are living this up.

I did see one take, however, that is now blowing up. Unsurprisingly, it's not from a Philly person. It's from, of all people, Joe Scarborough:

MLB’s new playoff system is a train wreck. Division winners like the Dodgers, Braves, Cardinals, and Yankees should only be driven from the playoffs after losing a best-of-seven series.
ALREADY OUT
Dodgers— 111 wins
Braves— 101 wins
Mets— 101 wins
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) October 16, 2022

Hey, pal, can it. It's a loser take. Go hang a banner for a 100-win season. I'm sure it'll be a beloved ceremony. That's how sports inherently work. The best team isn't always going to win the championship! Baseball and hockey have random postseasons. The NFL has best-of-one games. In my time watching Philadelphia sports, I've never seen someone mad at the playoff format for the team faltering. Own it if your team kicks the bucket in October!

This was an elite take on the situation from a Philadelphia perspective:

I didn’t watch the 11+ win Eagles flame out in the NFC Championship round for three straight years from 2001-2003 to hear a bunch of LA and NYC dweebs say their 100 win teams losing before the NLCS means the sport is broken.
— 🦇 Batthew 🦇 (@PanasonicDX4500) October 16, 2022

When I was a nine-year-old kid watching the 2003 NFC Championship Game, I wasn't angry at the NFL because the 12-4 Eagles lost at home. My rage was directed at Ricky Manning Jr., the referees and Andy Reid.

When the Sixers were the first seed in the Eastern Conference in the 2021 NBA Playoffs, they flamed out in spectacular fashion in the second round. No one complained that the team was ripped off after a great regular season. People, rightfully, were mad at the players themselves for coming up short.

Phillies fans know this situation so, so well. The 2008 Phillies had the fifth-best record in the majors before winning the World Series. That's how things broke! The Phils had the best record in the whole sport in 2010 (97 wins) and 2011 (a franchise-record 102 wins) and they didn't even make the World Series. They didn't even win a playoff series in 2011. This wasn't Major League Baseball's fault! It was on Cliff Lee's NLDS Game 2 meltdown and the whole lineup going ice cold.

If a team or a fan is livid that they're no longer in the postseason despite a fantastic regular season, may I suggest simply playing better and winning games if you want to be taken seriously.

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