It's not even a debate right now. The Philadelphia Phillies own the best home-field advantage in the MLB, certainly in the postseason. Philly has a talented, scrappy team that can play up to the moment, but its rowdy and loud home fans play a role in the team's October success.
Philly obliterated the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday night to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five divisional round series against Atlanta, drawing ace Spencer Strider to the mound for a win-or-go-home game for the Braves.
Phillies fans, needing motivation to get even louder for Game 4, looked to some comments Strider made earlier in the season about his disdain for crowds at MLB games.
Spencer Strider joke taken out of context is fueling Phillies fans
Spencer Strider, in a TikTok "interview", said his baseball hot take is that the experience playing in 2020 in front of no spectators was better than it is now.
"Get rid of the fans. It's too loud," Strider said.
Fans were shown on the broadcast at the start of Game 4 with signs referencing the joke. Philly sports media was lifting the clip for motivation ahead of the game. Some signs at the game hypothetically asked Strider if it was too loud. Others said Strider had poked the bear by making the comments.
Braves fans were quick to call out Philies fans for being "too dense" to pick up on the fact that it was a joke. Strider's tone and intonation was a clear imitation of one of Strider's favorite figures, Larry David. The complaint for "no fans," too, was a very classic Larry David-esque pet peeve: An obviously ridiculous complaint just for the sake of being an unpleasant individual.
Here's the thing: It doesn't really matter how Philly fans interpreted it. If it motivates Philly to completely overbear Strider with noise, it works.
