As spring training draws closer and closer, let’s take a look back ten years and revisit the budding 2007 Phillies squad.

2007 was an exciting time to be a Phillies fan. They had the reigning National League MVP on their roster in Ryan Howard who hit 58 home runs and drove in 149 runs the year prior. They also had a budding young core forming with Howard, Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, and Cole Hamels at the center.

The team finished second place in the NL East for the third straight year, this time behind the 97-65 Mets. The Mets had the best record among all NL teams, finishing 12 games ahead of Philadelphia and nine games ahead of the next-best team, San Diego. Even though the Cardinals beat the Mets in the NLCS, New York looked to be strong yet again in 2007. Dethroning them would be a tall task.

Even though the Mets took the division crown and the Phils missed the playoffs in 2006, Rollins was still confident about the team’s chances. He told reporters that Philadelphia was “the team to beat in the NL East.” This certainly angered the reigning division champs and their fans, as evidenced by this cover from the Daily Sports News.

The Phils were an offensive powerhouse in 2007. They led the National League in OPS+ (105), fWAR (34.9), and RBIs (850). The club also hit the second-most home runs with 213. Three Phillies finished with five or more fWAR that year: Utley (7.7), Rollins (6.5), and Aaron Rowand (5.4).

Utley, Rowand, and Hamels represented Philadelphia at the All-Star Game that year. Rollins eventually went on to win the NL MVP in 2007 with a .296/.344/.531 line, 30 home runs, and 41 stolen bases.

However, the offense masked glaring deficiencies on the mound. Outside of Hamels, the rotation was paltry. Hamels led all Phillies pitchers with 3.9 fWAR; the next-highest was Jamie Moyer with two.

The bullpen was only worse. Only the then-Devil Rays had a worse bullpen in terms of fWAR, and they were so bad in 2007 they had to change their name the next season. Philadelphia’s relievers finished with a 4.50 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, 105 FIP-, and 1.55 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Their performance was certainly hampered by Brett Myers‘s absence due to injury.

Even with that sub-par pitching staff, Philadelphia ended August with a 72-62 record. They were just two games behind the Mets when the calendar turned. However, New York went on a tear to start the month as Philadelphia skidded, putting Philadelphia seven games behind New York on September 12.

What ensued was one of the biggest collapses in sports history. The Mets went on to lose 12 of their last 17 games. Meanwhile, Philadelphia won 12 of their last 16 to close the gap.

Both teams entered the last day of the season at 88-73.

All Philadelphia had to do to clinch the division was beat the Nationals as they held the tiebreaker over the Mets. They did just that, sealing the division title with a Myers strikeout.

The Phils went on to face the Rockies in the NLDS that year, but Colorado set them down with ease as they swept the series in three games. The offense went quiet in the series, racking up a collective .172 batting average.

I was actually one of the 45,991 in attendance at Game Two as my mom got me out of school early to see the game. This was the game where Charlie Manuel infamously removed Kyle Kendrick in the fourth inning – while he had the lead – and put in Kyle Lohse, who allowed a grand slam in the ensuing at-bat. Looking back on it now – as I was still too young at the time to fully comprehend the nuance of pulling a starter – the move was definitely one of the most questionable in Manuel’s managing career.

2007 was the starting point for Philadelphia’s run of dominance in the division. The momentum carried over to 2008, where they went 92-70 and eventually went on to the World Series.

Nostalgia trips like this are fun, let’s do it again sometime.