Tone in Phillies' clubhouse markedly different than it was to end 2022

Bryson Stott's head was down as he walked over to Bryce Harper at the back of the Phillies' clubhouse. Game 7 of the NLCS had ended a half-hour earlier and the room where so many celebrations had taken place over the prior year felt closer to a morgue.

They slapped hands, Harper gave his teammate and childhood friend a hug, they spoke in hushed tones for a few minutes and then went their separate ways as Harper continued to clear out his locker.

When the Phillies lost Game 6 of the 2022 World Series, it didn't take long for the conversation in the clubhouse to shift to how they could use the experience to their advantage, how they could take that positive momentum and move forward.

That was not the tone this time around.

"There's no feeling like last year that at least we got here," Nick Castellanos said. "We're upset. We're frustrated that the only thing we got to was Game 7 of this series because everyone on this team feels there was more potential in this clubhouse.

"I don't feel stunned, I feel frustrated. We underachieved, I think, as a team. We have to give credit to the Diamondbacks, they played great, but it's a frustrating way for the season to end just because the potential of this team is so much greater than going home before the World Series. Last year, when we lost Game 6, we were disappointed because we didn't win the whole thing, but there was a lot of, 'All right, well we got here, now we can build off of that.'

"Knowing how we feel about this team and that we came up short from what we did the year previous is a disgusting feeling, honestly."

Castellanos was one of several Phillies who went from red-hot to ice-cold in what seemed like the blink of an eye. He homered off Zac Gallen in his first at-bat of Game 1 of the NLCS. Then he went 0-for-23 with 11 strikeouts the rest of the way. Harper and Trea Turner were a combined 4-for-35 after Game 2. Kyle Schwarber saw fewer pitches to hit. Alec Bohm's bat woke up in Game 7 but it was too late.

Several of them looked like they were pressing in the final two games of the series. Turner expanded the strike zone time and again in key spots in Games 6 and 7. The same way the Diamondbacks knew they could get Castellanos to chase sliders away and off the plate, they clearly sensed they could coax Turner into big swings on breaking balls outside or in the dirt.

Turner basically struck himself out in his second at-bat of Game 6 with runners on the corners and two outs. In Game 7, he stranded a runner on second in his second at-bat, grounded out after a leadoff double in his third at-bat and flied out as the go-ahead run in the seventh.

"Probably the fact that they got the lead in the first game back here, that probably changed the momentum a little bit," manager Rob Thomson said. "They started to run a little bit, started to put pressure on us. They started playing their game.

"It's very disappointing, it really is. I told the club if you asked me two days ago, two weeks ago, two months ago if we would be going home tonight, I would have said no. That's how much belief I have in this club."

The Phillies had their chances in Game 7. They led after the bottom of the fourth. They stranded the bases loaded with two outs in that inning after Brandon Pfaadt pitched around Brandon Marsh to get to light-hitting Johan Rojas. Despite taking the lead, it felt like a buzzkill, an ominous sign.

Thomson did not pinch-hit for Rojas in the fourth for several reasons. Had he used Jake Cave, the D-backs would have brought in lefty Joe Mantiply and Thomson would have had to burn a second bench player in Cristian Pache. That move would have also made it easier for the D-backs to match up later in the night. Plus, Thomson said, they were leading at the time and Rojas is their best defensive outfielder.

Rojas stood out with his glove all summer and in October, but he was unable to do much in the playoffs, hitting .093 in 43 at-bats.

Two batters prior to Rojas' inning-ending strikeout in that crucial fourth inning, an overly aggressive Castellanos struck out with runners on the corners and one away.

"I had a terrible at-bat," he said. "Me wanting too much to get the runner in instead of just seeing what the pitcher was going to give me first. That's on me.

"I felt great until going to Arizona and then once I went to Arizona, I felt like I was grinding to see the ball, to see the pitches. It's terrible, man. It's a terrible feeling to just feel like you're locked in and be in a zone like that and have it fade away at the wrong time."

The Phillies had another prime scoring opportunity in the bottom of the seventh after Pache and Schwarber walked with one out. After Turner hit a can of corn to center field, Harper came up as the go-ahead run. Phillies fans have seen him don the cape so many times in these spots. It wasn't meant to be this time as Harper flied out to Corbin Carroll as well.

"I wish I had two pitches back," he said. "Not being able to come through right there. Just missed it. He gave me the pitch I wanted. I went 2-1 and he threw me a heater. Not being able to come through in that moment is just devastation for me personally. I feel like I let my team down, let the city of Philadelphia down as well. That's a moment I feel like I need to come through."

The Diamondbacks made more adjustments than the Phillies. They built early leads. They executed pitches on the corners. They finally got their speedsters on base in the final few games to wreak havoc the way they did most of the regular season.

When the Phillies came home from Phoenix, they had out-homered their playoff opponents 23-6 and stolen 12 more bases than the teams they'd faced. The longball disappeared in Games 6 and 7. They hit one, Bohm in the second inning Tuesday night.

Arizona stole eight bases in the final two games.

"It's pretty jarring. It felt like we were playing a really good brand of baseball there to start the series and then things just took a turn," J.T. Realmuto said. "We really weren't able to get the momentum back and get it on our side. They made the adjustments. You've got to tip your cap to those guys. They were unpredictable, changed their looks on us quite a bit. And they got us to chase. They pitched us differently, they had better at-bats, they stole bases, they did the small things to win games."

The Phillies played last October with house money. The Diamondbacks have done the same in 2023. Both teams advanced to the World Series as the sixth and final seed in the National League that had to win three rounds without home-field advantage.

There was significantly more pressure on this Phillies team. The expectations were higher from Day 1.

"I don't think it affected us at all, truthfully," Thomson said. "I think these guys were laser-focused every day coming to the ballpark, not really thinking about where we were at in the series, whether we were up, whether we were down.

"These guys are really a focused club, and they really think day-to-day as opposed to long-term. So I don't think that had anything to do with it."

Now comes an uncertain offseason. Will Aaron Nola be back? Will Rhys Hoskins be back? Will Zack Wheeler, a free agent after 2024, be extended? Will Harper play right field or first base? Will the entire outfield return? Will there be any significant additions a year after Turner was brought aboard for $300 million over 11 years?

There is an element of fortune involved in any playoff run. There was no guarantee, or even a high likelihood, that the Phillies would make it back to the same point. They weren't the best team in the National League from March 30 through September 30, but they were from October 3 through October 17. Turns out it was fool's gold.

Getting back is difficult. It will be even more difficult in 2024.

"Just because you get experience … this game is a hard game, it's really hard to get back to the World Series, it's hard to repeat," Realmuto said.

"We set out with one goal this spring training and that was to win the World Series. It wasn't to get to the postseason or to get to the World Series, it was to win the World Series. We fell short of that goal. It's a sucky feeling.

"We're going to hold our heads high, go into the offseason a little bitter but hopefully be better next year."

This team could very well play its way into contention again next season, but it's hard to envision the runway being as clear as it was this month. The Brewers fell early. The Dodgers fell early. The Braves fell early. The Phillies had two chances, at home, to beat an inexperienced 84-win team but couldn't do it.

If these Phillies won it all, they might have gone down as the most beloved team in the city's history given the cast of characters and personalities. Instead, the players, coaches and front office will spend another offseason trying to figure out how to get over the hump.