Emotional Nick Castellanos Opens Up About Disheartening Defeat to Diamondbacks After Phillies’ Star’s Pre-game Michael Jordan Antics Falls Flat

The Philadelphia Phillies are no longer contending for the World Series 2023. What was turning out to be quite a hopeful run for the Phillies, dipped into irreparable damage after the Arizona Diamondbacks beat them 4-2 on Tuesday. But while prepping for Game 7, the Phillies put quite some effort into their wardrobes. Did they think it would impact their play at Citizens Bank Park? 

In homage to the City of Brotherly Love, Bryce Harper chose to don Patrick Beverley’s Philadelphia 76ers jersey. Following this another Phillies star adorned a Pre-game Michael Jordan souvenir signifying what Jordan stands for. Victory. But fate had other plans. 

Symbolic of Michael Jordan’s victory aura, Nick Castellanos donned an attire in hopes of a charm to work out

The Phillies All-Star, Nick Castellanos walked into Citizens Bank Park wearing a Michael Jordan Chicago Bulls shirt. That’s definitely the best outfit that Nick Castellanos could have selected to convey a message. Any basketball fan will tell one that Michael Jordan’s main motivation is winning. And Castellanos’ choice made complete sense in the pivotal NLCS Game 7 where the season is on the line and they have an opportunity to go to the World Series.  

But as the game unfolded and the win started inclining toward Arizona, the 31-year-old could not help but feel utterly disappointed. As @NBCSPhilly tweeted, in an interview after the game he summed up his emotion explaining how “terrible” he felt. Castellanos emoted, “Obviously were disappointed because we didn’t win the whole thing. But, there was a lot of ‘Alright well we got here’, you know. ‘Like now we can build off of that’. So knowing how we feel about this team and we came up short from what we did the year previous, I mean, this is a disgusting feeling honestly”. In baseball, the highs are very high and the lows are very low. This Florida-born experienced exactly that. That said, he added more to his statement. 

This right fielder and third baseman said that he felt quite in power until he went to Arizona. Going to Arizona did something inexplicable to his spirits. His words, “I just felt like I was crying to see the ball, to see the pitches and it’s terrible man. It’s a terrible feeling to just feel like you’re just locked in and be in a zone like that and then have it fade away at the wrong time”, expressed his disappointment elaborately. One can’t help but notice him being hopeful of winning, wearing a Michael Jordan-themed attire, and then losing is a blow too hard to endure. 

The Phillies’ Attempt to attract Jordan-like luck fell flat helping Arizona instead

While Nick meant the the Michael Jordan antics to work out in favor of him and the team, completely fell flat. Despite it meaning to be a lucky charm, it pushed the team into misfortune. A complete irony of twisted fate for the Phillies. However, the same luck seemed to work for Arizona. 

Read More: After Forcing a Police Escort on Diamondbacks Skipper, Jason Kelce and Philadelphia Eagles Co. Pull Up in Support of Phillies, Fall Short

They were able to accomplish something that they hadn’t done since 2001. A couple of decades ago, the Diamondbacks defeated the New York Yankees in a thrilling seven-game series during their only other appearance at Major League Baseball. With that, the Diamondbacks celebrated with the same fervor that helped them beat last year’s NL champions. 

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