Game 1 of the NLCS is Monday night — and the Phillies won't be in it for the second straight year.

After committing $189.4 million in player salaries this season alone to trying to get back to the World Series, the Phillies continue an unusual trend. If you don't include the COVID-shortened 2020 season (which saw the Phillies narrowly miss an expanded playoff field), the Phillies have increased their regular season win total every season since 2017. No team has ever done that five seasons in a row.

They won the NL East for the second straight year with 96 wins, and made the postseason for the fourth straight year — equalling the run of the legendary 2008-11 Phillies.

But it's all been for nothing. After falling in the 2022 World Series, the Phillies have taken a step back in the postsea

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