Heroes.
Any baseball team that survives the meat-grinder of a 162-game schedule and advances to the postseason needs heroes, especially one anchored down by the longest playoff drought in the National League, 11 years strong.
The Phillies needed players who were part of four straight September collapses to change their stripes and reverse the curse. They needed new players to step up and do what they were brought in to do — win meaningful games in a playoff race.
They needed heroes.
This week, the heroes arrived.
The Phils’ magical 3-0 win over the Astros in Houston last night, a new instant Phillies Classic, began with one of those new players, Kyle Schwarber, serving notice to every player on the bench that there would be no collapse this time.