ATLANTA — More than a dozen Phillies players and coaches lined the dugout railing as a lazy fly ball hit by Maikel Franco plopped into a 20-year-old Braves phenom’s glove for the 27th out. This slow death march was over. Many of the onlookers in the visitors’ dugout dispersed. Some lingered to witness the Braves’ party. Gabe Kapler did not budge from his spot. His right foot was on the top step. He leaned on the stair rail. For two minutes, the polarizing Phillies manager memorized this scene.



“I think there’s some value in just allowing the sting of that to sink in,” he said, “and acknowledge it and use it as motivation for next season.”



This is an appreciation, and appreciations are not usually reserved for teams that authored the sort of collapse that these Phillies did. They owned the second-best record in the National League on Aug. 5 and lost 28 of their next 43 games. This putrid stretch culminated in Jake...