The 94WIP afternoon show with Jon Marks and Ike Reese is still working through the Phillies' startling NLCS loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Now two days removed from Game 7, Marks began the show with a strong statement on the performance.
"How I feel today: Yesterday I was more sad, I'm mad today," Marks exclaimed. "I'm mad. Now it's sunk in: that was an all-time choke job. The Phillies had an all-time choke job. And you know what, I'm not asking for [Rob Thomson] to be fired, I think Topper is a good manager. I love this team, I love the veterans on this team, I love the young players on this team. Damnit, nobody stepped up in those last two games...They went down with a whimper, on their home field in Game 6 and Game 7 to an inferior team...They thought that they were going to win it just by showing up and being the Phillies. So I don't feel better today, I am legitimately pissed."
Producer Jack Fritz, meanwhile, is beginning to turn the page and accept 2023 as an enjoyable season.
"Obviously I'm still disappointed, I'm still walking around a little bit mopey," Fritz said. "But the more and more I look at it, it's like yea, they lost...sometimes that's just baseball...It was still a great year. It was still a great year. They went to the NLCS. If you told me before the season that we'd end up in Game 7 of the NLCS, I would've said 'good.'"
On the other hand, NBC's Ben Davis joined the WIP Morning Show earlier today and fell on the same side as Marks:
This doesn't feel like a this-or-that situation, but more so how individuals come to accept the loss. Everybody agrees on the loss' disappointment, but some are slower to move on than others.
Editor's Note: I have not moved on. It was an all-time choke job. I can't think of one fond memory of the 2023 season without immediately thinking about Nick Castellanos striking out with 1st and 3rd and one out, or Corbin Carroll catching the final out. This sucks.