ALEC Bohm thinks his Philadelphia Phillies team is driven on by their heartbreaking near misses from the last couple years.
The Phillies are one the hottest teams in baseball after a scorching start to the 2024 season.
Philadelphia has lived up to pre-season expectations so far during the campaign after coming painfully close recent glory.
Bohm, 27, hit a home run during the 2022 World Series which they lost to the Houston Astros.
Philly followed that heartache by losing 4-3 in the National League Championship Series last season.
“Any time you get there and get that close, it adds fuel to the fire for sure,” Bohm said.
“It was a long time since the Phillies have gotten to the playoffs.
“After two years of coming up short, it’s definitely something that every guy in that clubhouse has thought about when they’re at home in the offseason working, coming into Spring Training and then throughout the year.
“We’re a team that over the course of the last four or five years have got more and more talent and now some of the younger guys have come up and played well.
“I think it’s just a reflection of the organization as a while and how far it’s come.”
The Phillies can bank on a raucous atmosphere at their Citizens Bank Park home which makes it a tough place to come and win games.
Bohm knows first hand how unforgiving the Philly crowd can be when he had an incident with his own fans in 2022.
The third baseman was sarcastically applauded for making a play and then seen telling a teammate, “I f***ing hate this place.”
He issued an immediate apology and claimed emotions got the better of him.
Bohm has since become a key part of the Phillies line-up and banks on the home fans to give the team a lift.
He said, “People say what they say about Philadelphia sports fans, but at the end of the day I think they’re just a really competitive fan base.
MLB is back in London for a third time this summer when the Philadelphia Phillies take on the New York Mets.
The London Stadium will transform from a football pitch to a baseball field for the June 8 and 9 spectacle.
Fans attending the games can feast on some extravagant ballpark menu items such as boomstick nachos (pictured) and a two-foot boomstick hotdog.
The New York Yankees won both games in 2019 against their rivals the Boston Red Sox.
And the Chicago Cubs split their series with the St Louis Cardinals when the teams faced off in 2023.
“They want to win and the players obviously want to win.
“When you put all that together and the team starts having success, the whole city seems to feed off it and rally around the team.
“Everybody just shows up every night putting all their energy towards winning the game.”
Bohm will hope his team can get the same kind of lift when they visit London in a few weeks.
Any time you get there and get that close, it adds fuel to the fire for sure
Alec Bohm on Philly's near misses
The Philadelphia Phillies will take on their rivals the New York Mets in a two-game series across the Atlantic Ocean on June 8-9.
Philadelphia won three of the four games the teams played this month – both at Citi Field in New York before the two in Philly were split.
New York Mets will play Philadelphia Phillies in the MLB World Tour: London Series 2024, June 8-9 at London Stadium. Tickets are available now at https://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/MLB
