2022 World Series: An ode to Phillies fans, who showed up for 8 fantastic games

PHILADELPHIA — Forty days ago, Citizens Bank Park hosted a goodbye party. Very few people showed up. 

Oh, how the times have changed.

On Sept. 25, the Phillies played the Atlanta Braves in their final home game of the regular season on "Fan Appreciation Day." The fans were, understandably, not in the most appreciative mood. 

That Sunday, their beloved Fightin's would lose a seventh game in 10 tries. Philly's 1.5-game lead over the Brewers for the NL's new third wild-card spot grew more precarious by the day. A daunting 10-game road-trip to finish the season loomed large. It was shaping to be another late-season collapse for a franchise well accustomed to early-fall crumbling. 

The only thing keeping October hope alive in South Philly was an identical capitulation happening over in Milwaukee.

The box score for Sept. 25 claims 32,090 paying customers, but that official tally includes all the tickets sold. A rewind of the game highlights reveals no more than 15,000 or so fans were in attendance. The upper decks that afternoon were almost completely vacant. The seats in left field — seats that would soon become the landing spot for the most iconic home run in stadium history — were 10, maybe 15 percent full. 

That means around 15,000 paying customers opted to stay home and watch the Eagles instead. The Phillies were a sunk cost. They had no interest in being appreciated, they'd heard it all before.

But Kyle Schwarber tried anyway. 

In his first season with Philadelphia, the veteran outfielder had swiftly become the clubhouse's undisputed leader and voice, and thus, was tabbed to address the crowd before first pitch on Fan Appreciation Day. So Schwarber, a microphone wrapped in his paw, strolled onto the grass beyond the first-base dugout and swiveled around, soaking in the scene. 

What he saw — rows and rows of empty seats, an odd spectacle for a team occupying a postseason spot — could not have been particularly energizing. This was not Wrigley Field circa Autumn 2016.

"We would like to thank each and every one of you for coming out this whole year and supporting us." Schwarber said, his low-pitched voice booming loud over the loudspeakers. "It's been a really crazy year so far, right?"

Little did he know.

"We're gonna keep this thing going for you guys," he reassured. "So keep us going through the end. Stay with us, and we'll see where this takes us."

Nobody in the crowd, nobody on the field, not even Schwarber himself, could have imagined the next 40 days of Phillies baseball. 

On Thursday night, after a month of unpredictable madness, the Phillies finally hosted their last home game of the 2022 season. It did not go according to plan.

Over 45,000 actual people, voices hoarse from cheering and jeering, wrists sore from clapping and towel-waving, watched Philly drop Game 5 of the World Series to Houston in a heartbreaker for the ages. 

Justin Verlander was good enough to earn his first Fall Classic victory. The Phillies offense squandered chances early and couldn't conjure a big knock late. Hometown kid Chas McCormick made a spectacular catch to rob JT Realmuto of a double in the ninth. The ‘Stros sit one win from a title. 

Most folks went home sad, but very few could have left disappointed.

That the Phillies, these Phillies, these 87-win, roster-full-of-DH's, no-back-of-the-rotation, new-manager-in-June, bullpen-of-tissue-paper, sure-to-blow-it-again Phillies, played eight playoff games at Citizens Bank Park in 2022 was not lost on anyone wearing red Thursday night. 

A month of indelible moments that will become murals off Broad Street come springtime. And for the players themselves, the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play in front of such a fiery, animated crowd is something they'll remember for a long time.

"This is stuff we'll still talk about 30 years from now." Rhys Hoskins shared before the game, "We see the ‘08 guys up in the box telling stories. No matter what happens over the next three games, we have memories that we'll be able to cherish."

The mood in the postgame locker room, however, was decidedly less enthusiastic. Hoskins, whose six playoff homers have helped spark this magical run, was notably downtrodden after a rough 0-for-5 showing with four punchouts. Brandon Marsh, the high-energy fan-favorite who struck out with runners on the corners and one out in the eighth in perhaps Philly's best shot to tie the game, had the countenance of a seltzer left uncovered and gone flat. 

There are losing locker rooms, and then there are losing locker rooms after gut-wrenching defeats at home in the World Series. The letdown was palpable.

None of it fazed Schwarber.

"I guarantee there'll be a lot of people in this room who'll go to sleep frustrated. That's human, it's OK to be frustrated tonight. But tomorrow they'll wake up and turn the page. We're still playing in the World Series."

Forty days earlier, about six hours after Schwarber greeted that apathetic crowd on Fan Appreciation Day, the Phillies trudged into their locker room with a similar taste in their mouths. Their farewell gift to CBP was an infuriating 8-7, 11-inning, slopfest loss to the Braves. They left the yard that evening for a 10-game, regular-season-finishing road trip, not knowing if their next home game would be in October 2022 or April 2023. Outwardly, they didn't resemble a group destined for glory. But, perhaps irrationally, as baseball players can be, the Phillies held faith.

"Nobody packed up their lockers." shortstop Bryson Stott remembered. "We knew we could win, wherever we went. And we did."

After Game 5 on Thursday, the Phillies packed their bags for the upcoming trip to Houston. But bags, at this time of year, are better than cardboard boxes. Those lockers, and the belongings in them, remained untouched again. Baseball, like life, repeats itself.

And while the Phillies weren't world-beaters on that crucial road trip, going just 4-6 over their last 10 games, it was enough as Milwaukee failed to run faster than the fastest team running from the proverbial bear

So when the Phillies came home Oct. 14 after 19 days away, they returned to a stadium packed to the brim with maniacal, ear-splitting nutjobs. A postseason clinch in Houston and a wild-card round sweep in St. Louis had proven enough; and so Game 3 of the NLDS became a glorious homecoming. The rest, as Schwarber told FOX Sports after Game 5, "has been a total blur."

In order to fill "The Bank" the Phillies first had to validate themselves away from it. The fans bought in, the vibe changed, and the champagne flowed all because of what they accomplished elsewhere. Now, they'll have to do it again.

No matter what happens at Minute Maid Park this weekend, it won't cheapen what happened at Citizens Bank Park all postseason long: This Phillies team removed a decade's worth of stench from the ballyard in a single month.

During the rebuilding years, the ballyard became a symbol of ineptitude and perpetual disillusionment. Fandom dread. A place to enjoy a few cold ones on a summer evening, sure, but competitive baseball? Please. 

For many Phillies fans, "The Bank" turned into a place they felt obligated to enter, instead of a place that offered sports hope. The bygone symphonies of the Utley/Rollins years were nothing more than distant echoes. 

But when the Phillies return home next April, the ballpark will come to represent something completely different. A fresh coat of paint, a new outlook on life, a home and a franchise rejuvenated. That's because across eight extraordinary autumn afternoons and nights a sea of red flooded its way into this yard, filling the place with raw noise, unfettered passion and unadulterated joy. 

Eight genuine, unforgettable Fan Appreciation Days.

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.