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Despite their recent surge, the Philadelphia Phillies probably won't make the playoffs, writes columnist Mike Celizic.

If you’re a fan, you want it to end, and more times than you care to count you think you’re there. This started as one of those years for Phillies fans, a year when their team seemed primed to overtake the Mets in the NL East.

It wouldn’t be Philadelphia if the team charged out of the gate, took over first place, and held on all season. Instead, when the gun went off to start the season, they were still in the clubhouse getting dressed. They won just three of their first 13 games — misery.

But then they got their act together and got to .500 halfway through May.

Fans were starting to feel cautious optimism, but the Phillies put a lid on that by spending the next two months yo-yoing stuck in a rut of win one, lose one, win three, lose three.

As hard as the Phillies tried to get buried, though, the Mets wouldn’t cooperate, muddling along through the summer themselves, their lead comfortable but never intimidating. On July 21, Philadelphia finally climbed over .500 for good and started whittling down the Mets lead. Seven straight wins over the Mets in August and September brought them so close to first place, they could touch it.

But they couldn’t grab it. Of course not. They’re the Phillies, and that would have been too easy. But while they haven’t been able to catch the Mets — and probably won’t — they found themselves in a dead heat for the wild card with the Padres with a week to go.

Their fans are filled with hope and dread. The hope is that the Phillies will make the playoffs. The dread is that even if they do, it will only be to distill another dram of misery to its absolute essence.

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Let the Cubs have their endless failures and their fans who have come to expect losing and even to enjoy it. Let Cleveland continue its history of losing — after all, what else can you expect if you live in Cleveland? (I grew up there; believe me, I know what it’s like.) But Philly expects more and never gets it. It’s tempted nearly every year by one team or another and never rewarded. This year, it’s the Phillies threatening to make the playoffs.

What joy!

What misery!

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