Kyle Schwarber’s Phillies NLCS comments will hurt Red Sox fans
In her 2021 hit “deja vu,” Olivia Rodrigo sings,
“I’ll bet that she knows Billy Joel‘Cause you played her “Uptown Girl”You’re singing it togetherNow I bet you even tell herHow you love herIn between the chorus and the verse (ooh) (I love you)So when you gonna tell herThat we did that, too?She thinks it’s specialBut it’s all reusedThat was the show we talked aboutPlayed you the song she’s singing now when she’s with youDo you get déjà vu when she’s with you?”
These lyrics are taking on new meaning for Boston Red Sox fans as they watch Kyle Schwarber celebrate every postseason round his new team, the Philadelphia Phillies, conquers. They clinched the first-ever third Wild Card (and their first Wild Card in franchise history) to end the longest postseason drought in the National League, steamrolled the St. Louis Cardinals in the three-game Wild Card series, and then blew the doors off the defending-champion Atlanta Braves in the NLDS. This week, they’ll take on the San Diego Padres in the NLCS.
The parallels to Schwarber’s time in Boston are plentiful. Just last October, Schwarber was helping the Sox go from the Wild Card to the league championship series in a season in which no one had expected them to do much. Each team plays in a passionate northeast city with a rabid fanbase. Both wear red.
Ironically, Rodrigo’s lyrics also ring true in that Schwarber’s celebratory song of choice is the same. The Phillies are now dancing on their own as they pop champagne.
But what really stings are Schwarber’s comments after the Phillies punched their ticket to the NLCS on Saturday afternoon:
“No offense to any fan base because they’re all amazing but this, by far, is the best division series I’ve ever seen on the home field. Just how electric it was.”
Do you get deja vu, Red Sox Nation? He had the same kind of praise for Boston after last year’s Wild Card:
“…the crowd went nuts and you feed off that energy. Red Sox nation brought it tonight. We needed it. And you can’t say enough about the crowd tonight.”via NESN
And after his grand slam in the ALCS, he praised the Sox and the Chicago Cubs:
“I loved every second of it. Like I said, this is what you live for, right? This is it…It just brings a smile to your face when you just think about it, right? Just the atmosphere. It’s something that you want. You don’t realize how lucky you are as a player to have a fanbase like this. I was lucky. I had a great fan base in Chicago for how many years I was there, and then to be able to walk into another great fan base, you can’t take that for granted.“You cannot take that for granted because you go to — go and play games in other places and to have — no offense, but just to not have the seats full, right, it’s a different game. Walking into a place where the fans, they care about you, win or lose. They’re going to be there, and they’re going to let you know, right? Don’t take that for granted because it’s very special to have.”via Boston Herald
And again after he signed his four-year deal with the Phillies in March:
“I loved my time in Boston. I enjoyed it a lot… The time in Boston was fantastic. It sucks we didn’t go past the championship series. I thought this was a team that could go out there and do it all. It’s a great organization and fan base. It was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed playing there.”via WEEI
Schwarber was on the Cubs when they ended a 108-year championship drought and Fenway Park in the postseason is next-level ridiculous; as someone who witnessed his ALCS grand slam in person, I thought America’s Most Beloved Ballpark™ might explode. But this is his eighth year and fourth team in the majors, and he’s smart enough to show love to his current team’s fanbase rather than comparing or waxing nostalgic about his past.
Red Sox fans had strong reactions to Kyle Schwarber’s praise of “electric” Phillies fans
Unsurprisingly, many fans don’t believe him, anyway. One replied, “Say what you have to Schwarbs. We all know the truth.” Quite a few brought up his October history with the Cubs as proof that he’s lying. One person compared it to a hostage video. But some fans noted that they couldn’t blame him for showing love to the team that pays him just because they’re mad that his previous teams weren’t so smart.
It’s clear that the energy at Phillies games this fall has been incredible, though. And for Sox fans, the part that hurts isn’t so much that Schwarber has moved on as it is that Boston is on the outside looking in, waiting for the offseason to start, and wondering if their front office will do better this winter than last. Meanwhile, the postseason is a constant, nagging reminder of all the things that went wrong this year, including not signing Schwarber, who led the National League with a career-high 46 home runs and is now in the penultimate round of the postseason with the team that was smart enough to pay him.
No offense taken, Schwarbs. Boston just misses you.
