Phillies Drop Season Finale, Lose 11,000th Game in Franchise History

By Matt Rappa, Sports Talk Philly editor

The Philadelphia Phillies' standing as the losingest team in professional sports history continues. Playing in their 20,940th-ever game since their first season in 1883, the Phillies lost their 11,000th game all-time, falling 4-3 to the Miami Marlins in their final game of the 2019 season on Sunday.

Doing so, the club failed to secure its first winning season since 2011, as they finished the 2019 season with an even 81-81 record. The finish is the club's first non-losing season since 2012, when it similarly went 81-81 in the last full season under skipper Charlie Manuel.

The Phillies' 10,000th loss came more than 12 years or nearly 4,500 days ago — 4,459 to be exact — when the club fell 10-2 to the St. Louis Cardinals on primetime Sunday Night Baseball television. Albert Pujols slugged a pair of the Cardinals' six home runs in the rout. Those were the 269th and 270 home runs of the future Hall of Famer's career; entering Friday, Pujols has hit 386 home runs since.

In the ninth inning that game, "boos turned to cheers," writes the Associated Press: "Fans in the sellout crowd of 44,872 thumbed their noses at the dubious mark, standing and applauding. One held up a sign that read: '10,000 N Proud' as NL MVP Ryan Howard struck out to end the game."

Since their 10,000th loss on July 15, 2007, the Phillies have gone 1,015-1,000 — a .504 winning percentage; their all-time winning percentage is now .472. Entering Sunday, the only other MLB franchises that have lost 10,000 or more games are: Atlanta Braves (10,658, .501); Pittsburgh Pirates (10,404, .503); Chicago Cubs (10,403, .514); Cincinnati Reds (10,393, .505); and the St. Louis Cardinals (10,063, .520).

The Phillies were formed as the Philadelphia Quakers in 1883, and, later, were named the Blue Jays in the mid-1940s. Since, they have just two World Series championships to their name from their magical 1980 and 2008 runs. The franchise hopes for a similar go-around in 2020, Bryce Harper's second of at least 13 seasons in red pinstripes.