How the Phillies turned things around and ended an 11-year playoff drought

By Jake Mintz
FOX Sports MLB Writer

In the madness of the postgame celebration, Aaron Nola and Rhys Hoskins found each other.

After the Phillies‘ 3-0 win in Houston on Monday night clinched the franchise’s first postseason berth since 2011, players, coaches and team personnel filed out onto the field at Minute Maid Park to congratulate one another. Most gave out handshakes, a brief hug, some words of affirmation and moved towards the clubhouse for a champagne thunderstorm. 

But when Nola and Hoskins, the franchise’s longest-tenured pitcher and longest-tenured position player, locked eyes amidst the chaos, they embraced like two long-lost friends reuniting. 

A hug eight years in the making.

Nola first debuted with the Phillies in 2015. Hoskins showed up in 2017. The two stalwarts, alongside 2016 debutant Zach Eflin, who poetically tallied his first career save to close things out against Houston, have seen so much turmoil and turnover throughout their time in Philadelphia. Three general managers, four big-league skippers, over 150 total players who have donned the uniform and before 2022, zero trips to the postseason.

As the roster flipped over, the drought expanded and expectations grew, the three often discussed what it would feel like to finally guide the franchise over the hump. Oh, how sweet it would be. On Monday night, a thousand miles away from Philadelphia, that became reality.

Thanks to Nola’s sensational performance against the juggernaut Astros lineup — he lost a perfect game bid with two outs in the 7th — the longest playoff drought in the National League is officially dead. Even though the Brewers won, Philly clinched anyway, earning the third and final Wild Card Spot by virtue of their season-series tiebreaker over Milwaukee. The team hasn’t played a postseason game since Ryan Howard tore his achilles against the Cardinals on the final pitch of Game 5 of the 2011 NLDS. Fittingly, their first game back in October will almost certainly be in St. Louis, this Friday night.

That Nola was the one to deliver Philly to the promised land was incredibly fitting. The lanky right-hander represents the last remaining link to a bygone era of Phillies baseball. As a rookie in 2015, he shared a clubhouse with Ryan Howard and Carlos Ruiz, Philly icons of the previous generation. He overlapped with another franchise legend, Cole Hamels, for about a week that July before the veteran was dealt to Texas for a package of five prospects, none of whom panned out. Shocking. You can fit Mickey Moniak’s entire Phillies tenure, from first overall pick in 2016 to MLB debut in 2020 to his trade to Anaheim earlier this year, within Nola’s time on the big league roster.

As the Phillies dealt away the final pieces of their dynasty that summer, it became obvious that a lengthy rebuild was underway. Beside the departure of GM Ruben Amaro in the fall of 2015, little of substance changed by the time Hoskins first arrived at Citizens Bank Park in August of 2017.

Even though the first baseman lit the league ablaze that month with 18 homers in his first 34 games, it was obvious to him right away that something was off about the team’s chemistry. The big-league club lacked the camaraderie he’d experienced coming up through the Phillies farm system. The clubhouse didn’t mesh with one another. They didn’t hang out off the field and outside of the stadium. They didn’t dine and drink together. They weren’t friends. 

Now, the 2017 and 2018 Phillies had way bigger flaws than a lack of friendship — a lack of good players was a much bigger issue — but the uninspiring environment didn’t help to empower young players, who often struggled upon reaching the bigs. And as the roster began to improve through trades and free agency, adding Bryce Harper, Jean Segura and JT Realmuto in ‘19 and Zach Wheeler for ‘20, the Phillies continued to underwhelm.

Despite Harper’s blockbuster addition, the team went 81-81 in 2019. During the COVID-shortened 2020 season, they failed to make the expanded 16-team playoff. There were moments in 2021 — they swept the Mets in early August to move into first place in the NL East — but a late-season slide meant they finished the year at 82-80.

After three consecutive underwhelming seasons, it dawned on Hoskins, now a relatively grizzled vet himself, that he and the other experienced players had to be more mindful about creating a joyful and uplifting environment. It was their responsibility to make sure that rookies and young guys were excited about coming to the yard every day.

For inspiration, Hoskins looked outward, into the opposing dugout.

“We play the Braves a LOT.” Hoskins told FOX Sports last week. “And they win a lot. I looked at teams like that, the Dodgers, the Cardinals, teams that are always in the mix. And I asked myself, ‘what are they doing that we’re not doing?” 

To Hoskins, the answer, at least off the field, was simple. “We’re going to do more to be together more.” He and the other veterans agreed that engendering a more supportive and tight-knit culture was crucial and made it a priority in Spring Training.

But that new mindset struggled to get off the ground early in the 2022 season. Manager Joe Girardi’s intense approach and firm hand meshed poorly with a Phillies team carrying lead-heavy expectations. His hardened demeanor grated on the team’s younger players. For the first few months, the team played tense, anxious baseball on their way to a 22-29 record.

That fizz-less start led to Girardi’s firing on June 3rd. The front office replaced him with bench coach Rob Thomson, a good friend of Girardi’s who’d been a mainstay on Girardi’s staff dating back to 2008. 

Where Girardi was rigid, Thomson was relaxed, stoic, completely undeterred by bad bounces and rough patches. Rarely do Thomson’s facial expressions ever change. His post-game speech during the Phillies celebration on Monday night was comically monotone. As a lifelong coach who’d never really expected to manage, Thomson moved like he was playing with house money. Hoskins refers to it as a ‘f*** it’ mentality.

That hands-off style was a breath of fresh air for the players, a total vibe switch compared to Girardi’s concrete exterior. Under the new skipper, the team immediately won eight in a row and 14 of 16, lurching themselves back into contention. On July 7th they beat Washington to move into the third Wild Card spot, which they held onto with a tenuous grasp all summer. And when the team dropped 10 of 13 in mid-September, fans rolled their eyes and said ‘here we go again.’ 

But Thomson never wavered, his expression never changed, he never gave off a whiff of panic.  The players followed suit. They held firm, didn’t press, and for once, the boat didn’t sink. And with a little help from the new third Wild Card and the mediocre Brewers, the Phillies got over the hump.

After the final out on Monday night, as the team filtered into the clubhouse, Hoskins stayed out on the field for a postgame interview on the Phillies’ TV broadcast. When asked what it meant to him to finally get a taste of postseason baseball, the 29-year-old first baseman struggled to contain his emotion. The Philly sports cult hero who proved to be more than just a flash in the pan held back tears as he heralded Thomson, his teammates, the front office and the support staff. 

A half-decade of mediocrity, disunity and frustration finally in the rear view mirror. A trip to the playoffs guaranteed. The dam had broken, the drought had ended and now the champagne and tears could finally flow.

Jake Mintz, the louder half of @CespedesBBQ, is a baseball writer for FOX Sports. He’s an Orioles fan living in New York City, and thus, he leads a lonely existence most Octobers. If he’s not watching baseball, he’s almost certainly riding his bike. Follow him on Twitter @Jake_Mintz.

Get more from Major League Baseball Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more