The Phillies are so exhausting right now that we’re letting AI write about them instead. In this edition of the award-winning Robot story of the week column, we asked ChatGPT to write us a story about a torn fan. This fan doesn’t know whether to boo the Phils or show them his support instead. He’s having trouble with the 2023 Trea Turner standing ovation and doesn’t want to be a sourpuss, but he doesn’t want to be a fanboy either:
Mike slumped down into his usual spot on the couch that had become his second home during the Phillies’ season. The game had just ended and the Phillies had lost again, this time to the Marlins. It wasn’t just any loss – it was a disheartening, disheartening loss that left the air full of disappointment. The kind of loss that makes you wonder why you care so much, why you let this team get you down like that.
He rubbed his face, feeling the stress lines that seemed to deepen with each game. The All-Star break was supposed to be a fresh start, a chance for the team to regroup and come out stronger. Instead, it felt like they had lost their spirit, their performance after the break a shadow of the team they had been at the start of the season.
“What’s wrong with them?” he muttered, staring at the dark screen. The players looked lost, the energy was gone, and the losses were piling up. Mike felt like he was losing the team he had invested so much of himself in over the years. And tonight, the loss to the Marlins hurt even more because it was at home, in front of a crowd that had been yearning for something to cheer for.
He thought back to last year, when Trea Turner was struggling. The boos were loud, the frustration was palpable throughout the stadium. But then something unexpected happened – the fans gave Turner a standing ovation, a kind of support that seemed out of place in a city known for its toughness. And it worked. Turner had turned things around, the team had recovered, and the season ended on a high note.
But this year felt different. This slump wasn’t just affecting one player; the whole team seemed out of sync. Mike was torn. Should he boo and let the team know how angry and disappointed he was? Or should he show support like they did with Turner last year, hoping that another show of faith could turn things around?
The thought of booing felt wrong, like kicking someone who was already down. But cheering and offering support felt just as wrong. How could he cheer when everything was clearly falling apart? It felt like he was pretending everything was fine when in reality the team was faltering.
He thought of the players and their faces after the loss. They knew they had problems; they didn’t need boos to remind them. But they also didn’t need empty gestures of support that ignored the harsh reality. Mike didn’t want to be the fan who pretended everything was OK when it wasn’t. The truth was, the Phillies played bad baseball, and it hurt to watch them.
Mike stood up and paced the small living room. His Phillies cap was on the coffee table, he picked it up and turned it over in his hands. That cap had seen a lot – victories, defeats, joy and heartbreak. But this was different. The frustration was overwhelming, the uncertainty gnawing at him. What kind of fan was he if he just watched the team go under without doing anything?
But what could he do? Booing felt like giving up, and cheering felt like lying to himself. He wanted to support his team and believe that they could still do it, but he didn’t want to ignore the reality that things were bad right now.
In the end, Mike knew he would be there for the next game, just like he always was. He would watch, he would cheer when there was something to cheer about, and maybe even boo when frustration boiled over. But deep down, he knew he was a Phillies fan through and through. He didn’t want to pretend everything was fine, but he also didn’t want to let the team down when it needed his support the most.
So he would keep wearing the hat, keep watching the games, keep hoping that maybe, just maybe, something would work out and the team would get back on track. Because that’s what it meant to be a Phillies fan – to love the team even when it was made so hard to love them. To fight with them, to be torn, but never stop caring about them.
Pretty good story. The only thing I don’t agree with is that the last season ended.”at a high level.” Maybe the programmers didn’t include the NLCS in the AI’s code. That’s probably for the best, because we’d rather forget the series against the Diamondbacks.
