Leaving A Playoff Game Early Should Get You Banned For Life
There a good chance that Phillies fans, and the players, got a little too ahead of ourselves after taking a 2-0 series lead in the NLCS. After those first two games, most folks in town would have told you that worst case scenario was wrapping this series up in 5 games. All of a sudden the team no showed in game 3, blew a lead in game 4, finally turned things around in game 5, but then that brought us to game 6 tonight at Citizens Bank Park.
I'll be honest--the energy right off the bat wasn't great. There was this weird tension in the air. Like 46,000 fans all doing our best to convince ourselves that there was no way they were going to lose that game, but also being extremely worried at the same time. And you know what? That's fine. I don't think Philly fans need to be overbearingly confident all the time. Some cautious optimism is perfectly acceptable. But the energy in the ballpark wasn't really there all night, and the team didn't give the fans many reasons to turn that around. Even the small glimmers of hope here and there were quickly quelled with a terrible at-bat. It was just a weird night all around. And as much as it sucks to come in that spot, it's fine. It happens.
With that being said...you have to be the biggest coward of all time to be one of the "beat the traffic" folks in the playoffs. If you leave a playoff game early, you never deserve to go back again. It doesn't matter what the score or what the situation is. It's the playoffs. This isn't some throwaway game in the middle of June. The Phillies have been to the playoffs 16 times in their 140ish years of existence. It doesn't matter if they're down by 40, you stay the whole game. This isn't fucking Miami. If you're not willing to deal with sitting in a little traffic trying to get out of the parking lots after the game, then don't go. I'm not saying you need to cheer the whole time, but you sure as shit can't leave.
And don't get me wrong, I know that it was only a few hundred people out of a crowd of 45,500+. But those few hundred people should never be allowed to return. ESPECIALLY not if they have tickets to tomorrow night's first game 7 in Philadelphia Phillies history.
Insane stat that the Phillies have never played in a game 7 before. But all that means is that they're undefeated in game 7's. Ain't never lost. But yeah, there are so many new technologies when it comes to security at the ballpark in terms of facial recognition and shit like that. I hope they find every single person who left this game early and put them on a persona non grata list.
Hit the reset button. Burn the fucking boats tomorrow night. Bedlam at the Bank 2.0.