Different manager, same feces every September and I'm sick of it.
That's what makes this year's September fade the most disheartening of them all. In 2018, you could say they played above their heads for four months and returned hard to mean at the end. In 2019, the Nationals went on the ultimate hot streak (got hot, never looked back all the way through the last out of the WS). In 2020, we had the Bullpen from Hell. In 2020, the Braves went on the ultimate hot streak (got hot, never looked back all the way through the last out of the WS). This year, we coughed up five game lead to a team which isn't on a hot streak and will likely go quietly into the night against the Cardinals. No matter what we do, we still have a team that's only built for five months. Maybe it's a collective mental block which comes along every September, maybe the lack of ML and organizational depth makes the wear and tear of a long season too much to overcome at the end (though that wouldn't have been the reason in 2020) or maybe it's a combination of the two. I'm out of answers at this point.
Yeah the thing is I don't think it's mental. If anything they played over their heads/had really good depth for all of July and August. Then it caught up to them and additional injuries got to be too much. I mean, just losing Wheeler and Seranthony was tough, but in reality we've lost all three of our top Opening Day relievers on top of that, while Familia's replacement (Robertson) wore down. And we fantasized that Harper would come back from his broken hand and long absence with the same gusto he showed playing through the other injury, but it's not surprising that he hasn't. And then subtract Castellanos, who was starting to produce, and is basically playing hurt the rest of the year too.
At some point it's chicken/egg - the rotation got dinged by Wheeler's injury and Gibson/Suarez being inconsistent, that puts pressure on the bullpen. The bullpen's thin, that puts pressure on the rotation. Nola gives up four runs and the offense can't get anyone home. The offense jumps out to leads, it's easier on the starters.
For sure there are roster design flaws - and there have been every year. Not young enough, not deep enough, smaller margin for error.
It is probably fair to say that the Brewers and the Cardinals (and the Braves) also know how to win better than the Phillies - but not necessarily true of the Mets or Padres (though they both have managers who do).
It's painful because they have come so close (assuming they miss), and yet, they are going to end up with more wins than anyone other than optimistic fans (or at least, not the oddsmakers) thought this Opening Day roster had in it to begin with.
And these challenges, coupled with the recent history of September fades, puts pressure on the players and makes them press and a sense of "here we go again" eventually becomes panic. And yes, teams do panic and when that happens, the players on that team seemingly forget what they are and what they can do, see the '64 Phillies and the 2007-08 Mets. Hence, I think it's an interconnection between the two--lack of depth and a mental issue.
Lol. I thinik we've chatted previously about how your posts can become a bit slippery with respect to your focal points. With this we started with logic being impossible this time of year, to momentum being a myth, to momentum won't get them past St. Louis, to you think you thought there was still a chance at the NLDS in late August. Suddenly I want to chuck a quarter into a pinball machine down at the corner arcade. 
Ribbing aside, I still think we're still in general agreement in how we're seeing the club. I mean, there were times (and likely in late August as well) I was entertaining the prospect of the NLDS. It was hard not to with how the team played in July and August, on the cusp of getting Harper back (possibly Eflin at some point then as well). Rather than surge, of course, the team has regressed, for some of the reasons you mentioned in another post above.
It's funny too, about winning now just for survival. When I originally posted about some momentum I was largely still keeping the idea of them not making the playoffs pushed to the side. Now, having been swept (again) by the Cubs, bats in a significant funk, and phans approaching meltdown state watching another September collapse... I think I'm in agreement. 
I feel no obligation to be consistent. I may not take on the tone of a WIP caller or drunk sports bar fan but I still see this board as closer to that than debate team or Supreme Court oral arguments.
Ha. I've read enough of your posts to know that one, my friend.
And I'm not trying to re-create the fall finals at Chasterly Hill here, but I do find it interesting to hear the rationale behind certain viewpoints on occasion. (Viewpoints themselves seem to be in abundance these days. )
Hadn't thought about the fact that it is now October. Phillies finish September 11-14, their second losing month (they were 11-11 in April and 11-18 in May).
4-2 in October should do it. 5-1 obviously clinches it. 3-3 means that they need two Brewers losses which I think is reasonable. But they really blew their best chance to make the last series largely moot, and the weather may not help in that regard either.
