After getting within two wins from reaching the mountain top and being enshrined in history as World Champions of baseball, the Philadelphia Phillies started this season knowing they had one goal in mind: World Series or bust. Unfortunately for the Phillies, this story didn't quite have the storybook ending after so many amazing memories and moments.
While the city of Philadelphia is currently reeling at this moment, you have to continue forward and look at the bright side to all of this. Philadelphia will be back and will continue to build. This will be another learning moment for this team and a motivator to be better.
During the Phillies postgame, color analyst Ben Davis said it best.
""You know, I never thought I would see this team get complacent. During this series, I saw this team become just that.""Ben Davis
It hurts to admit, but it's true. Everyone from the mainstream media to the fans in Philadelphia all thought this was a walk-in series and believed this team was invincible. Fans were planning out what they were going to be doing for the World Series. Everyone believed this team was the team of destiny that got humbled.
While the blame can be equally distributed from Dave Dombrowski not adding enough at the trade deadline, Rob Thomson refusing to make any sort of adjustments and mismanaging his bullpen and of course, the stars falling short of having any sort of impact. Between Nick Castellanos returning to post-All-Star Game form and Trea Turner regressing back to his pre-ovation self. It was just a series meant for disaster.
""Got a heater and just missed it. He threw me the pitch I wanted. I went 2-1 and he threw me a heater. Man, just not being able to come through in the moment just devastates me personally. I feel like I let my team down and let the city of Philadelphia down as well.""Bryce Harper
You have to feel for Bryce Harper. Harper bleeds red pinstripes and loves this city and has done a lot of work into recruiting pieces that make up this lineup. When it's all said and done and Harper hangs up his cleats, he will be in the conversation for maybe the greatest Phillie ever.
However, the road back to the World Series starts with the offseason. Dave Dombrowski is going to have some decisions to make. There are a few roads he can go down to help make this team better. Let's take a look at some of these scenarios starting with the bats and fielders.