2008 Philadelphia Phillies
Blaming a "curse" for your team's misfortune is often looked at as just excuse making. The Cubs blamed a goat for this ills. The Red Sox blamed a trade they themselves approved of. But for the Phillies, their "curse" was more than just something that plagued the team, but the entire city of Philadelphia. For the longest time, there was an unofficial rule in the city that the highest feature would be the statue of Philadelphia's founder William Penn on top of the city hall, and no building should ever exceed this height. This rule was in effect through the 1970's and into the '80's where the city was enjoying some good fortunes in sports; The NHL Flyers and won back-to-back Stanley Cups in 1974 and 1975, the Phillies had won their 1st World Series in 1980 with an additional pennant in '83, and more recently the NBA 76ers had dominated the Finals with a sweep in 1983.
Philadelphia City Hall is 548 feet, which doesn't seem that tall by today's standards. Realize that until 1908 it was the tallest building in the world, so the "rule" in place back then seemed apt for Philly. By 1987, the city decided they could use taller buildings and approved the construction of One Liberty Place, which towered over the city hall and the statue of Penn. Upon it's completion, no Philadelphia team would in a title. The curse was born and the city would be frustrated with constant near misses like the 1993 World Series loss. But unlike other curses, this one had an obvious solution. In 2007, the city build an even bigger building, the Comcast Center, and they attached a statuette of Penn to the final beam to ensure that William Penn was once again at the highest point of the city.
Curse or no curse, a team had to have talent to win it all. In 2008, the first full season without any "restrictions" via a curse, the Phillies had fielded a decent team. The previous season had seen them win the NL East and make the playoffs for the first time since their 1993 pennant and they were looking to build on their momentum. Manager Charlie Manuel worked a 92-70 record out of the team as they took advantage of another late season stumble by the New York Mets to edge them out for the division by 3 games.
The Phillies blew by the Milwaukee Brewers (3-1) and Los Angeles Dodgers (4-1) to claim the pennant, where they met the Tampa Bay Rays in the World Series. Right away they had a quirky advantage. Their lone WS title came in 1980 against a Kansas City Royals team making their WS debut like the Rays were now. The four other WS for the Phillies were against teams that had been there before and the Phillies lost each time (as well as the 2009 and 2022 WS in the future, both against teams that had been there before...in fact, by this metric the only advantage the Phillies will ever have is if they face the Seattle Mariners...or technically Cleveland as the Guardians).
A Chase Utley homer and Cole Hamels strong pitching helped secure the Game 1 win, which was followed with a Tampa Bay win to send the series to Philly tied 1-1. After rain delayed the start of Game 3, the Phillies took a lead but ultimately let it slip away into a late tie. Philadelphia had the bases loaded in the bottom of the 9th with no outs. Carlos Ruiz then hit a grounder to third, where Even Longoria failed to make an accurate throw home, allowing the winning run to score and giving the Phillies a 2-1 series lead.
After a blowout 10-2 win in Game 4, the Phillies were set to win it all the next night. They took another 1st inning lead, but the Rays wouldn't relent with their back against the wall as they tied the game 2-2 after the top of the 6th. Before the bottom of the inning could start, the umpires suspended the game due to rain. Two nights later we were ready to pick things up, making Game 5 of the World Series the first time that a suspended WS game was not declared a tie and instead resumed at a later date. The teams would trade runs, with the Phillies taking a 4-3 lead that Brad Lidge would ensure would hold up, securing the 2nd title in Phillies history.
The "curse" of Billy Penn was for sure vanquished. For good measure, when the Comcast Technology Center was constructed in 2017, the newest building to be the tallest in Philadelphia, they made sure to include a statuette of William Penn on top.
