May 12, 2026
Kyle Ross/Imagn Images
The Sixers came crashing back to reality after an exciting first-round series win against the Celtics, and right now, Philly sports doesn't have much to look forward to until the fall.
The Flyers gave the city hope. The Sixers took it away.
The Phillies?
They've looked more like the Phillies since Rob Thomson's firing, with the National League's second-best record (7-3) over the past 10 games. But what does that even mean? If they make it back to the postseason, nobody truly believes the outcome would be any different than each of the past three postseasons.
Setting the Eagles aside for a moment, but still using an NFL analogy, being a fan of the Sixers, Flyers and Phillies lately is sort of like being a Steelers fan for the past 15 years.
You watch a flawed team compete all season, cover up some warts, lean heavily on its top-end talent and get into the postseason. But also, yeah, you just know they're not championship material, and probably not even close.
Adding insult, we now have rivals questioning if our town is still even actually passionate about sports – as Knicks forward Josh Hart, who actually played here during a time when his Villanova Wildcats won two national titles and when the Eagles won their first Super Bowl against unimaginable odds — recently did after his team spanked the Sixers in a four-game sweep.
"I used to think Philly was a sports town, I don't know if it is anymore"
— Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks) May 10, 2026
Josh Hart says he wasn't surprised at how many Knicks fans were in Philly: pic.twitter.com/kBNmhCFvNE
No, Josh. We don't have a sports passion problem. We have a Sixers passion problem. And by the fall, we could feel that same empty emotion for the Phillies.
It's about expectations of something greater than "just good," and Philly not meeting them. It's not about a lack of enthusiasm.
The Flyers showed us that.
You have to at least feel pumped about the direction of the Flyers, even after the disappointing second-round sweep against Carolina.
Things came together at the right time – Tyson Foerster's return from an injury, Porter Martone's arrival, Dan Vladar's heroics and Sean Couturier's reinvention of himself – to get the Flyers into the playoffs, and then they raised their game to another level to take out Sydney Crosby and the rival Penguins in a thrilling seven-game series.
And, hey, the barn was rockin' for the first time in what felt like an eternity. Perhaps Josh Hart didn't notice that as the Knicks were struggling early in their first-round series against the Hawks.
It would've been nice to see the Flyers administer a few headaches to the Hurricanes, but those games were highly competitive. It's an old sports adage, but it's true in this case – it just wasn't their time yet.
But we can stop circling the wagons around Danny Brière and Keith Jones for a little, and realistically envision a much brighter future for this team. This will be a vital offseason for Flyers brass, as Brière will finally not be tasked with rebuilding a dormant roster but rather building up this upcoming team into a Cup contender.
Expectations have been raised. They can not afford a step back next. This can't be lightning in a bottle.
Brière needs to be motivated by this scene at Xfinity Mobile Arena as the Flyers left the ice for the final time in the 2025-26 season:
One final salute to the Flyers Faithful. 🫡 pic.twitter.com/wqpVzZc68L
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) May 10, 2026
For a moment, the Sixers had joined the Flyers in giving their fans renewed hope.
Joel Embiid came back from yet another unconventional injury – an emergency appendectomy – to boost the struggling Sixers past the Celtics in the first round, helping the Sixers become just the 14th team in NBA history to overturn a 3-1 deficit. Embiid didn't just come back; he dominated and embarrassed the Sixers' rivals.
For a fleeting moment, there was hope. Then it all went away.
In came the Knicks, with red-hot Jalen Brunson, and they just outclassed the Sixers in every possible way. Embiid, of course, sustained an injury in a very physical Game 1 loss that led to him sitting out Game 2 and then returning for Games 3 and 4 as a shell of himself.
That Knicks dominated the glass, suffocated Tyrese Maxey, capitalized on Embiid's immobility, and sizzled the nets in the four-game sweep that wasn't so much disappointing as it was inevitable and predictable.
The idea that Embiid would be healthy and dominant in a second-round series, or that Nick Nurse would coach circles around Mike Brown, or that the Sixers wouldn't miss an extra shooter like, say, Jared McCain, or that they'd have an answer for Brunson was far-fetched from the start.
This recurring nightmare known as the Sixers postseason doesn't really have alarm clock to wake us up from.
In the end, any optimism the Sixers had given after the Celtics series, they instantly took away. And now they return to their annual offseason destination at Square 1 – trying to figure out how to become better than just an average team with two of the NBA's most bloated, immovable contracts serving as obstacles to doing just that.
Now we wait to see about the futures of Daryl Morey and Nick Nurse, and if any major changes can make a difference or are just rearranging the furniture on the Titanic.
The Phils might be this city's best fit for our Steelers analogy – they've got enough top-end talent to continue their climb-out from an early hole that got Thomson fired and Don Mattingly promoted to manager, and now they're winning games against bad teams and they'll probably figure out a way to get into the postseason.
In the end, though, are they really any better than just OK?
Bryce Harper is playing very good baseball, Kyle Schwarber is homering at his typical Schwarberian pace, and the starting pitching has finally come along.
But other than Brandon Marsh being a surprise contender for NL batting champion, are any Phillies playing above expectation? Because that's what this team needs to get over its playoff hump and back to the World Series.
Trea Turner is still swinging a newspaper, Andrew Painter is going through growing pains, three starters currently have a negative WAR, and Alec Bohm – one of those minus-WAR Phillies – is thanking his lucky stars that top Phillies prospect Aidan Miller hasn't played a single game yet because of a back injury.
The Phils still don't have a cleanup hitter, Jose Alvarado's ERA is over 5.00, and the batting order is still too left-handed. Wash, rinse, repeat...
With the Flyers and Sixers done, the Phillies are the city's only hope for some exciting sports action until the Eagles get back on the field in September. There are some underlying stats that show they are better than their record suggests.
But you've got to squint pretty hard to really see this team meeting its lofty expectations come October, if they even get there.
The schedule comes out Thursday night – or the part of it that hasn't already been leaked – so there's that, yay!
OTAs will start in a few weeks, and there are some interesting offseason storylines to monitor.
It's almost unfair that the Eagles have had to carry the burden of the failures of the city's other franchises for this long, but hey, the situations were reversed in the 80s.
The Eagles also seem just fine taking on that responsibility. But here's the rub for them – anything less than a deep postseason run this season will be viewed as a letdown, and would place the Eagles in the same boat as the Sixers and Phillies, especially coming off last season's first-round playoff exit.
Howie Roseman has remade the offense around Jalen Hurts in one offseason, the defense again has some elite talent and a legendary defensive play caller, and some new arrivals from free agency and the trade market ensure that the Eagles aren't "running it back."
There are some questions about just how elite they'll be, for sure, but for now, they're the city's best chance to showcase a team that's better than "just good."
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