It wasn’t too long ago that Phillies postseason dreams used to go to Miami to die. Citi Field is our current boogeyman, but anyone who remembers the struggles of the late 2010s and early 2020s know that Miami was the original House of Horrors. Sadly, this was extra personal for me.
For those who don’t know, I’ve lived in Miami for a little while and I have a young baseball crazed son. I would take him to Phillies Marlins games, dress him up in red and white, and he would watch my favorite team lose to the routinely terrible Marlins like clockwork. Damn near every time we went, the Phillies would make us look bad and the Marlins would have a great time. Eventually, he didn’t want to wear Dad’s colors anymore. Had the Phillies just won a few more games, maybe I wouldn’t have to have conversations with him now as to why his team trades away all his favorite players.
Friday, September 5 at 7:10p – Cristopher Sanchez vs Valente Bellozo (R) (bullpen game)
3 Game Series at Marlins Park in Miami, FL
Saturday, September 6 at 4:10p – Jesus Luzardo vs Sandy Alcantara (R)
Sunday, September 7 at 1:40p – Taijuan Walker vs TBA
But I digress. What I came here to do is crown a new hell in terms of where Phillies fear to tread. I know they are pure evil, but should we really give the Mets that kind of respect without properly vetting the situation? Never!
Honorable Mention: Marlins Park in Miami, Florida
Just to show you how bad it was in my son’s formative years, here are some fun numbers starting with the Phillies return to competence in 2018 (he was 4):
| Year | Phillies Record | Marlins Record | Philles at Marlins |
| 2018 | 80-82 | 63-98 | 3-6 |
| 2019 | 81-81 | 57-105 | 4-5 |
| 2020 | 28-32 | 31-29 | 2-5 |
| 2021 | 82-80 | 67-95 | 4-6 |
| 2022 | 87-75 | 69-93 | 6-4 |
The crazy thing is that in 2022, the Phillies ended up making the playoffs by 1 game over the Brewers. Had we played the way we usually do against the Marlins, that World Series run never would have happened. The demons were exercised just in time even if it was too late for me.
Our record against the Fish doesn’t seem too terrible except that ignores just how bad those Marlins teams were (except 2020 where they were incredibly lucky). The Phillies would finish distantly out of the playoffs each year, but we were always in the race until we had to travel to Miami:
- 2018: 53-40 before losing two to the Marlins and going 27-42 down the stretch
- 2019: 66-60 before the final Marlins series then went 15-21
- 2020: 23-20 before coming to Miami and going 5-12, missing the playoffs to the Marlins by 3 games
- 2021: 69-64 before getting shellacked in Miami finishing 13-16 and just 3 games out of the playoffs
Thankfully things have turned around. By God, they better stay that way. I will be in attendance tonight.
Third Place: Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona
I don’t think any of us knew how bad we had it in Arizona until it was too late. Going into the National League Championship Series we weren’t scared of Chase Field in the least, then Craig Kimbral happened and Garrett Stubbs said he was going swimming. Before we knew it, we blew the series and our best shot at a title since 2011. The record there is actually slightly worse than the Mets, but we went 3-1 there in 2023 (regular season). Somehow that one loss was actually the night JT Realmuto hit for the cycle. Go figure.
Record from 2018 to the present:
- Regular Season: 6-13 (3 games left this year)
- Playoffs: 1-2
- Overall Winning Percentage: .318
Second Place: Citi Field in Flushing, New York
It has been a miserable experience there lately included ZERO wins this season and 8 consecutive losses overall. Up until 2022, there wasn’t anything special about going there though. They had a better record, but not by much. Since 2022 though, we are 6-21 plus the 2 playoff losses. It seems like once we got better everywhere else, things started getting worse there. We aren’t even losing fluke games either, these are ass-kickings including a no-hitter in April 2022. Citi Field gets the edge over Chase Field despite the percentage because of the recent streak and just how much we hate them. Not enough for #1 though.
Record from 2018 to the present:
- Regular Season: 20-39 (does not count London)
- Playoffs: 0-2
- Overall Winning Percentage: .328
The Worst: Oracle Park in San Francisco, California
4 wins in the last EIGHT…FREAKING…YEARS! Playing in SF is unfathomably worse than anywhere else. We lost on a goddamn walk off inside the park home run by a catcher with a .572 OPS this season! Come on with that. We just can’t do anything right there. 4 wins??? How is that possible? The Giants somehow overtaking the Padres or Mets to get into the playoffs this season would be terrible. We haven’t had a winning series there since 2013. No matter how much we hate the other two places, Oracle Park is exponentially worse.
Fun Fact: Took my kid there when he was 4. He threw up in the line to get inside. The game didn’t improve the situation.
Record from 2018 to the present:
- Regular Season: 4-18
- Playoffs: –
- Overall Winning Percentage: .181
All wins/losses stats courtesy of Stats Muse and Baseball Reference.
Philly Front Office 
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