Ethan Rauch

The hunt had finally ended.

Red October had been re-discovered.

And for the past month, Philadelphia celebrated something magical. 

After eleven long years of waiting, Phillies fans finally got their wish for meaningful baseball in the month of October. After beating the Houston Astros on 9/26 to clinch their first trip to the postseason since 2011, the Philadelphia Phillies stormed their way into St. Louis with one goal in mind: to win a championship.

With two decisive victories in the National League Wild Card round against those pesky Cardinals, the Fightins punched their ticket to the National League Divisional Round, where they then beat their rival Atlanta Braves, advancing to the National League Championship Series. There, they met the San Diego Padres, eventually beating them, too. The Cinderella Run sadly ended though soon after, as the Phillies recently lost in climatic fashion against the Houston Astros in the World Series.

A lot has changed in the world since the Phillies last made the postseason in 2011. A lot has happened close to home, too, in Philadelphia and in the greater state of Pennsylvania.

Here’s some of what’s different, changed, and what’s happened in the ten years of no postseason baseball. 

With the other major sports in Philadelphia:

• The Philadelphia Eagles went 90-86-1 (not including this current season), according to Statmuse, and managed to win their first NFL Super Bowl Championship in 2018. During this time, they have had five different head coaches, according to Wikipedia. 
• The Philadelphia Sixers went through an entire team teardown, an era known as The Process. They have had some recent playoff success, but have not yet been able to complete their quest for a title. During this time, they have had three head coaches, according to Wikipedia. 
• The Philadelphia Flyers went 442-345-124 (not including this current season), according to Statmuse. Claude Giroux, one of Philadelphia’s longest ever tenured athletes, played 817 games as a Flyer, also according to Statmuse. The Flyers after their magical 2010 season never seemed to recapture that momentum in this past decade, and now appear to be the midst in a rebuild. During this time, they have had seven coaches, according to Wikipedia.

For a more general view, here’s some interesting information about the area outside the sports world:

• Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter was re-elected to his office in 2012 and was succeeded by Mayor Jim Kenney, who has currently been in office since 2016.
• Crime in Philadelphia has rocketed, with total number of homicide victims in 2021 almost doubling compared to 2011, according to Philly Police.
• The COVID-19 pandemic happened, causing over 300 thousand infected cases and 5,000 deaths in Philadelphia since 2020, according to Google News.
• The Fashion District in Philadelphia opened in 2019.
• The total number of high-school graduates in all of Pennsylvania dropped from 131,733 in 2011 to 123,407 in 2021, according to the Department of Education.
• Philadelphia’s total population has risen from 5.479 million in 2011 to 5.734 million in 2021, according to Macrotrends.net.