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Paul Sewald knows that fans can be instrumental in playoff baseball. The home environment is always hostile for a visiting team, and they're usually much louder and intense during the postseason. That's a fact of playoff baseball: the crowd plays a big role.
That is arguably nowhere more true than in Philadelphia. Phillies fans are unbelievable, and they show up and show out every single game. It's widely considered a very tough ballpark to visit in October, and Sewald knows this.
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Sewald said on the Foul Territory podcast:
"I think we got punched in the mouth by the Phillies, and we needed to do that to them to calm down those crazy fans. It'll be good for us to get in front of ours, and maybe we can get some momentum. You guys know, all you have to do is win one game and you start to feel confident that you can win the series, so it's important that we get off to a good start tomorrow."
The Phillies jumped out to a big lead early on against the Arizona Diamondbacks in both games at home. The Diamondbacks are down 2-0, but they believe that being in front of their fans instead of the toughest fan base in baseball will be a big factor.
Paul Sewald hoping for big crowd in Arizona
Paul Sewald admitted that the Phillies pounced on them, which certainly amped up the crowd. It's much tougher to be into a game if the team you're rooting for is trailing early.
At home, the Diamondbacks will hope to use the same formula. Trea Turner, Bryce Harper and company can't hype the crowd up in Arizona, so the Diamondbacks are very hopeful they can turn around the series.
The home fans will play a big role in that. Even if the Phillies' fans aren't driving them onward, the lack of an intense crowd on the road can be advantageous for Philadelphia.
Sewald knows that the fans need to show up and be loud. Otherwise, their wondrous playoff run may come to an end prematurely.
