South Jersey fans are less than a week away from this

Once the football season ends our minds shift to baseball. In the case of the South Jersey fans, they turn from one heartbreak to another.

After the Eagles 10-1 start, they saw their team collapse down the stretch en route to a first-round playoff exit.

Now they turn their attention to the Phillies; Another team that has let them down tremendously the last two seasons. Their Spring Training games start next Saturday, less than a week away.

But there is a lot of optimism around this Phillies team heading into the 2024 season. The last two seasons saw them make the World Series and NLCS. They of course lost them both, but it was a gigantic step forward for a franchise that had drug its fans through the mud for the previous decade.

Their 2022 run to the World Series felt magical. A team that had not made the playoffs in over a decade went on a miracle run with a manager who took over midseason.

Last year though, the team solidified themselves as one of the best teams in the National League. They went 90-72 last year, eclipsing 90 wins for the first time since the 2011 season when they won a franchise record 102 games.

They steamrolled their way through the playoffs, beating the familiar foe Atlanta Braves in the NLDS for the second consecutive year. They then pummeled the Arizona Diamondbacks in the first two games of the NLCS.

And then the unthinkable happened. They lost 4 of their last 5 games to miss out on a second consecutive World Series appearance.

Heading into the 2024 season the Phillies had a relatively quiet offseason. They resigned their longest tenured player in Aaron Nola but have remained quiet since that point.

The fact of the matter is this team is already good enough to make another World Series run, they just need to put it all together in the last few games of the year.

So get ready South Jersey. The marathon of a season we all love to watch kicks off soon.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5's Kyle Clark. Any opinions expressed are his own.

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