The Sad Truth... Phillies are the Miami Heat of the MLB
By: Mike Reisman
For all you basketball fans out there, remember ESPN's the decision? Remember how the world watched as Lebron James told us how he was going to take his talents to south beach to join Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade, creating a super-team? What happened next included ridiculous predictions of breaking every record, winning the NBA championship with no competition, and the most radical, Lebron's prediction of 8 championships. Of course, then came the accusations of not being able to play as a team, and that just because they were good on paper meant nothing until they won. Now think about the Phillies. No, they did not have a prime-time one hour special to announce where Cliff Lee was signing, but other than that, look at the similarities. The Heat have their big three, consisting of one player there since the beginning (Dwayne Wade), and two free-agent pickups (Chris Bosh, Lebron James). The Phillies? One from the beginning (Cole Hamels), one mid-season acquisition (Roy Oswalt), and just like the Heat, two off season pick-ups (Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee). In addition to all of this, the Phillies still have one of the elite lineups with players like Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, and Jimmy Rollins.
The similarities don't just stop at the players though. Think of the expectations for the players. Though nobody has predicted 8 championships, many have called the rotation the best in the MLB by far, and some have even gone as far as to say that they are the best of all-time. Of course, with these predictions, come doubter, that say just because they're good on paper... deja vu?
Of course, when a team is good it will have people who hate them. It seemed from the second Lebron announced that he was leaving, all of America that doesn't live in Miami hated the Heat, and the All-Star like team they brought to the NBA. Though the hate of the Phillies rotation is not as much as that of the Heat, there have been a considerable amount of haters, especially Yankees fans, still bitter of Lee's decision.
Though expectations of the Phillies may not be as astronomical as the Heat's, there may be less haters, and the Phillies big 4 may have taken longer to develop, there is no escaping it, the Phillies are the MLB's Miami Heat.