Philadelphia becomes first city to ever lose 2 championships in one day with Phillies, Union

Philadelphia has never been what you would call the happiest sports city, but its misery reached new heights on Saturday.

The city lost both the MLS Cup and the World Series in about five hours, ranging from the Philadelphia Union’s heartbreaking loss to LAFC to another dramatic loss for the Philadelphia Phillies, who won the World Series to the Houston Astros.

Corresponding the Elias sports officeit’s the first time a city has had two championships in one day.

To be fair, it’s pretty hard to lose two championships in one day since either the MLS Cup has to coincide with the World Series or the NBA Finals have to coincide with the Stanley Cup Finals. Regardless, Philadelphia has had better days.

But at least the Philadelphia Eagles are undefeated.

Union’s loss to LAFC was absurd

It’s no exaggeration to say that Saturday’s MLS Cup was the biggest game in league history.

In a meeting between the Eastern and Western Conference best records, Union and LAFC traded two goals before going into overtime. Then it got weird.

The Union apparently won the game and the title when Jack Elliott scored in added time.

And then Gareth Bale, a winger long removed from his elite playing days in Europe, a man who had only played six minutes for LAFC since mid-September, scored the final goal in MLS history:

The game ended in penalties where the Union should have the advantage thanks to the red card and injury that knocked out LAFC goalkeeper Maxime Crépeau. Instead, John McCarthy, a journeyman backup keeper, stepped in for LAFC and made two saves to clinch the title.

Compared to the football game, the Phillies’ loss was manageable, but no less a punch in the gut.

Philadelphia went 3-2 in Game 6 in Houston and needed a win to force a Game 7. It had a starting pitcher in Zack Wheeler, who knocked out the Astros for the first five innings. Phillies hitter Kyle Schwarber opened the door for some hope with a solo homer in the upper part of the sixth inning, but then Wheeler ran into trouble late in the inning.

The story goes on

Phillies manager Rob Thomson opted to lift Wheeler for reliever Jose Alvarado to face off against Astros hitter Yordan Alvarez. This is how it worked:

Three innings later, Houston celebrated his World Series title.