What Might Have Been?

This lede from an article yesterday really caught my eye. For all of the Phillies success the past couple years - and how dominant they've recently become (and how spoiled we've gotten as fans), it really is kind of amazing how tenuous their start to this run was. The 7 back with 17 to play, etc. I know they got their doors blown off in that LDS to the Rockies, but that experience i think did help them the following year. How might things be ultimately different had the Mets not collapsed 4 years ago. (both for the Phillies and the Mets)

Four years ago this morning, the Phillies were 5 1/2 games out of a playoff spot with 15 to play. Three years ago today, they were tied with the Brewers atop the wild-card standings with 12 games to play. When you consider that history, what they accomplished yesterday at Minute Maid Park was nothing short of remarkable: not the fact that they clinched a fifth consecutive postseason berth with a 1-0 win over the Astros, but the fact that they did so with little more than a nod of acknowledgment.