All offseason, the Philadelphia Phillies players and coaches talked about wanting to get off to a much better start than they had the previous two years when they were fighting for their playoff lives in 2022, and were relegated to the Wild Card race early in 2023 because they were so far behind in their division.

Much of that could be understood.

In 2022, manager Joe Giardi was fired in early June after starting 22-29. Last season, the Phillies were mising Bryce Harper and Rhys Hoskins.

After getting through this Spring Training relatively unscathed, they had the ability to achieve their goal of starting off as one of the best teams in the league.

It looked like that might not happen as they stumbled out of the gate with their offense looking like a complete shell of itself.

But, they turned that around and are now the first team to reach the feat of winning 20 games this year.

Philadelphia came back in dramatic fashion by putting three runs up on the board in the ninth inning to take a 7-5 lead. Jeff Hoffman then came on to close things out and earn his second save of the season.

In terms of short term results, this was an important victory as it gives them an opportunity to win another series on Wednesday, while also giving them the cache of being the first team to reach 20 on the year.

In the long term, this doesn’t mean much.

Championships aren’t won in the regular season, and the Phillies are playing for results that only take place in the fall.

But still, moments like this need to be celebrated throughout the long year, and this continues to give Philadelphia an opportunity to win their first division title since 2011.