As you all know Chris and I are diehard Phillies fans. So of course we were so excited that the Phillies clinched their first playoff spot since 2011 on Monday night. While some will argue they wouldn’t get in without the third wild card spot, that doesn’t matter. In is in and anything can happen in the playoffs.
I’m going to look at it from a positive perspective. The Phillies have shown a lot of resilience this season despite barely making it into the playoffs. They struggled early and fired their manager. One of their best players and last year’s MVP (Bryce Harper) got hurt and missed a lot of games and couldn’t play the field this year. They started to collapse in September and it looked like they would play their way out of the playoffs.
The team has had their ups and downs but they came through when they needed to and clinched with a win (not a Brewers loss) on Monday night. They stuck together and ignored the doubts of many fans and media and made it to the postseason.
To see the players celebrate after the game was fun. The guys were truly excited. You’re not guaranteed to make the playoffs each year and you could see the emotions for those making it for the first time.
My take away from all this aside from huge excitement that the Phillies finally made it is that you can’t give up even when the odds are stacked against you. If the Phillies followed the pattern of the past few seasons, they would lose a bunch of September games and just miss the playoffs. And that almost happened but it didn’t.
Just because you have failed at something before doesn’t mean you will again. You need to keep on trying and strive for that breakthrough just like the Phillies did.
Just because you struggle initially doesn’t mean you can’t still make it out on top. The Phillies struggled early in the season and still managed to make the playoffs. We can’t get discouraged when we struggle but need to tough it out. Early failure doesn’t mean failure at the end.
You can’t give up when there are hard times. The Phillies could have folded when they started losing mid September but they stuck together and won when they needed.
Resilient is a word tossed around a lot but I like it. I think of it as meaning tough or fighting through adversity.
I like to consider myself resilient much like the 2022 Phillies.
I’ve been knocked down a few times during this cancer battle but got back on track. Things were going well after my mastectomy and then I got an infection seven weeks later. Things were going well and I was ready to return to work this week but I may have another infection in the “good” breast. I’m frustrated but know I need to be patient and whatever I need to so I can reach that last step towards normal.
Winning is never easy. It comes with a lot of sacrifice and a lot of determination. I focused on kicking cancer’s ass during my chemo treatments and mastectomy so there’s no reason I can’t overcome the final hurdle of returning to work. Even if I start slow and gradually build up to regular hours, it will be a step in the right direction.
Even if the Phillies don’t win the wildcard series, they have done something Philadelphia hasn’t seen in 11 years, bring the baseball playoffs in October to Philly. Sometimes you celebrate small victories and build towards bigger things. I hope to do the same. And hope the Phillies can surprise us all some more!
#letsgophillies #postseasonbasball #thefightins #breastcancerbattle #setbacks #resilience #postopcomplications #onestepatatime #