How backyard BBQs have helped the Phillies bond
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The Phillies' Trea Turner, left, and Nick Castellanos. Photos: Megan Briggs/Getty Images; Denis Kennedy/MLB Photos via Getty Images
While super fans fete the Phils, South Jersey culinary king Matt Groark is keeping the players fed.
The big picture: Dozens of Phillies players will gather at Trea Turner's pad in Haddonfield, New Jersey, Thursday for a pre-playoff, all-you-can-meat BBQ.
- The get-togethers are one of the team's go-to ways of bonding and blowing off steam ahead of its championship quest, which begins in earnest with Saturday's opening game of the NLDS at the Bank.
State of play: After appearing on Gordon Ramsay's "Next Level Chef" in 2023, Groark, a high school teacher and master tenderizer, has gotten tight with some of Philly's star athletes.
- He's grilled up tomahawk steaks for former Eagles cornerback Darius Slay.
- And he has been asked to cook up feasts a few times at Phillies All-Star Nick Castellanos' house.
Zoom in: Fresh off a grueling road trip, Groark says players still filled Castellanos' backyard for a barbecue last year despite having another game looming the next day.
- While cooking up ribs and tomahawk steaks, Groark remembered thinking, Wow, these guys really like each other.
"There's something different about this team," he says. "It's just such the epitome of who they are — how tight-knit they are."
The intrigue: With rare, unfiltered access to Philly's favorite players, what has Groark learned?
- Castellanos is obsessed with two things: A good cut of elk, and baseball.
- The guy "eats, lives and breathes baseball" — a fixation so deep he hasn't memorized the names of some very well-known Eagles players, Groark tells Axios.
Yes, but: Forgive Castellanos, Philly. What he lacks in football knowledge, he makes up for in hospitality.
- A father of three, Castellanos has insisted on Groark bringing his wife and kids to the BBQs.
- "It's pretty cool," he says. "I'll be a fan of these guys no matter where they land."