Mid-Year Philadelphia Sports Power Ranking

July 2, 2010

By Kevin O'Connor

Being a fan of a sports team can be loosely described as being the parent of a growing child. You don’t have control over where things are headed, but you also can’t escape living vicariously through them. It’s even crazier when you are a fan of more than one.

I don’t have any kids nor do I have any idea what it’s like, but I like to think that parents keep track of which of their kids are doing the best. The luckiest parents have children that all grow up to succeed, but most parents have children with varying degrees of success.

Even though I would consider myself — as well as most of my friends — as a fan of all four major professional sports teams in Philadelphia, it’s clear that some teams matter more nationally than others. That’s what this power ranking column is about — ranking the successes and failures of each of Philadelphia’s major professional sports franchises. My Philly sports power rankings are not based on which teams I’d watch over another — hmm, column idea — but instead based on how successful and relevant each team is to its perspective sport.

Without any further ado, here is my first Philadelphia sports power rankings on Taking Back Sports.

1. Phillies

Last season: lost to N.Y. Yankees in World Series
Trend: stable
Prognosis: downward

With all due respect to Jeffrey Lurie, the Phillies are the gold standard franchise right now in Philly. If you’ve been living under a rock or just want to relive the glory, let’s recap how the Phillies went from maddening in 2006 to the toast of the town at the close of the decade.

2006

New Phillies General Manager Pat Gillick deals Bobby Abreu and the late Cory Lidle for a pile of bricks from the New York Yankees. It’s a cost-cutting move that inadvertently sparks a Wild Card run with the new Phillies core, led by Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley.
Ryan Howards flirts with the pre-steroids home run record and finishes with 57 home runs and the National League Most Valuable Player Award — one year after winning the NL Rookie of the Year Award.
Prized prospect Cole Hamels debuts with the team.

2007

Phillies come from 7.5 back in September to catch the defending champion New York Mets and win the NL East on the last day of the regular season.
Jimmy Rollins wins the NL MVP Award after reaching the 20-20-20-20 club (38 doubles, 20 triples, 30 home runs, and 41 stolen bases). Curtis Granderson also joined this club in ‘07 (38 doubles, 23 triples, 23 homers, and 26 stolen bases) albeit to much smaller fanfare and fewer MVP! chants.
Colorado Rockies steamroll the Phillies in a three-game sweep in their divisional series.

2008

Phillies catch the Mets for the second straight season in September to capture the NL East.
In the playoffs, the Phightins’ defeat the Milwaukee Brewers in four games to advance to the National League Championship Series. Thanks to Cole Hamels, Brad Lidge and Matt Stairs’ now legendary moonshot, the Phils dispatch of Manny Ramirez, his HGH, and the Los Angeles Dodgers in five games to face the Cinderella Tampa Bay Rays in the World Series.
NLCS MVP and World Series MVP Cole Hamels leads the team past a pesky, young Rays team in five games to win the first Philadelphia sports championship since 1983.
Brad Lidge doesn’t blow a save all year, and his voted team MVP. The law of averages was about to catch up with him BIG TIME.

2009

Ho-hum. The Phillies repeat as NL East champs, holding first-place for much of the season. Cole Hamels and Brad Lidge are never 100 percent all season and each regress significantly from their legendary ‘08 performances. Lidge’s fall from grace is most significant. After going a perfect 41-for-41 in save opportunities for a 1.95 ERA in ‘08, Lights Out Lidge was lit up for a 7.21 ERA and 11 blown saves. EEK!
Trade-deadline steal Cliff Lee was dominant as the Phillies exact revenge over the Rockies in the NLDS and again defeat the Dodgers in five games in the NLCS.
Even Cliff Lee’s two victories, including a dominant complete-game shutout in game one at New Yankee Stadium, the Phillies fall to the Yankees in six games in the World Series

2010 & Beyond

Currently four games back of the Braves as we head into July 4th weekend. After the offense began on a record pace, May and June were not as kind as the Phillies plunged into a deep slump. Roy Halladay has been as good as advertised.
Jayson Werth is set to become a free agent after this season.
Cliff Lee trade rumors have the former Phillie possibly heading to an NL rival (Mets or Dodgers) or a potential World Series opponent (Yankees). Yikes!

Unless the Phillies fail to make the playoffs in 2010 and 2011, another Philly sports franchise will need to win a title to unseat this Phillies team as number one in the Philadelphia sports power ranking.

2. Flyers

Last season: lost to Chicago Blackhawks in Stanley Cup Finals
Trend: rising
Prognosis: stable

With their surprising run through the Eastern Conference, the Flyers leapfrogged the Eagles and almost found themselves atop the Philly rankings. Mike Richards and Chris Pronger’s bunch were just two games away from Lord Stanley’s Cup, only to lose on one of the weirdest overtime game-winners in NHL history. If I went to a parade in Philly with the Stanley Cup, my guess is that the Flyers would have assumed the top spot of this power ranking. All this after the Flyers plunged to the second-to-worst position in the Eastern Conference. Amazing.

Mike Richards has had quite the Flyers career thus far. The Richards era has seen the lowest of lows (NHL’s worst record in ‘06-’07), a conference finals appearance (‘07-’08 loss in five games to the Pittsburgh Penguins), a first-round exit (‘08-’09 in six games to Pittsburgh), and Stanley Cup Finals appearance this spring. If form holds true, shouldn’t the Flyers be eliminated in the second round next season and finally hoist the Cup in ‘11-’12. Might want to think about that bet in a few years…

3. Eagles

Last season: lost to the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC Wildcard Game
Trend: falling
Prognosis: anything but stable

Two straight losses to the Dallas Cowboys to end the season. These were not your garden variety losses either, not that you needed me to jog your memory. Hard to tell which loss was worse. There was the 24-0 shutout loss in the regular season finale with the NFC East Championship and a first-round bye at stake, and there was the 31-14 massacre to open Wild Card Weekend. Ugh.

The offseason has been hectic. Donovan McNabb and Sheldon Brown were traded and Brian Westbrook let go just a year after waving good bye to Jim Johnson, Brian Dawkins and Lito Sheppard. Kevin Kolb, LeSean McCoy, and Sean McDermott, your only job is to replace the foundation of the franchise. The offense has the star power at the skill positions — DeSean Jackson, Brent Celek, and Jeremy Maclin — so Kolb has what young McNabb never had: weapons. Can it work? I think so, but not without some hiccups along the way with that defense.

4. 76ers

Last season: did not qualify for playoffs; 27-55 record
Trend: falling
Prognosis: rising

If this power ranking was a race, the Phillies would have out-kicked the Flyers to the finish line as the Eagles finish in a respectable third-place a few steps behind. The Sixers would still have about half the race to go, they are that far behind everyone else. The Sixers are on what seems like their 87th head coach since Larry Brown fled to win a title in Detroit, and Andre Iguodala and Elton Brand are paid star money for less than All-Star play, to say the least. Iguodala is a complementary player, and Brand is a square peg in a round hole on the Sixers.

Big thanks to the lottery gods for delivering the second overall pick and Evan Turner to the 76ers, otherwise this team would not have been given a rising prognosis. Here’s to hoping Doug Collins and Turner can get the 76ers back into the playoffs so that all of my kids — I mean sports teams — can make the playoffs next season!

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