For the past three years, Matt Klentak was tasked with revolutionizing the way everything is done inside the Citizens Bank Park walls. He presented ownership with the models of the more forward-thinking organizations in baseball, and he promised ambitious change that assumed its most public form in Gabe Kapler. The edict from billionaire owner John Middleton was direct: Do not do things as we did them before.



So it was interesting when Klentak, during his 30-minute post-mortem news conference Monday, leaned on the Phillies’ past. He researched the years prior to the club’s epic run of five consecutive division titles and he summoned names that this regime has avoided: Rollins, Utley, Howard, Hamels. Those icons, the GM said, could help explain the 2018 Phillies.



“They didn’t just show up in ’07 and that’s when things started,” Klentak said.



He is not wrong, although had the two-team wild-card system existed in 2005...