PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia Phillies returned home Thursday morning after clinching the National League pennant in Los Angeles, and a few dozen fans chanted their excitement — and their hope — as the team buses pulled into Citizens Bank Park.

"Four more wins! Four more wins!"

That's all it would take to give the Phillies their first World Series title since 1980, and the city's first major pro sports title since the 76ers won the NBA championship in 1983.

The Phillies will face either the Tampa Bay Rays or Boston Red Sox when the World Series starts Wednesday night.

Tampa Bay leads the best-of-seven American League championship series 3-1 and can eliminate the Red Sox in Game 5 on Thursday night in Boston.

Corey Bartholdi, 22, of South Philadelphia, brought his camera to the stadium after getting off the graveyard shift at 6:30 a.m. He had only watched the first few innings of Wednesday's 5-1 victory over the Dodgers before heading into work at a beverage company — but he knew when the Phillies had won.

"I got like 100 text messages after the last out," Bartholdi said. "It froze my phone."

The team arrived at a remote corner of Philadelphia International Airport around 7:30 a.m. About 100 fans lined up at a chain-link fence, cell phone cameras ready, to whistle and cheer as players disembarked.

Firefighter William Cardwell, 22, of Marcus Hook, Pa., said the thing he likes best about the team is their ambition.

"They have the heart to win," said Cardwell, who watched the game at the fire station with his colleagues.

A convoy of buses then drove the team a couple of miles to Citizens Bank Park, where Bartholdi and Mayor Michael Nutter were among the fans waiting.

Nutter, sporting a red Phillies cap with his white shirt and red tie, had watched the clinching game at a popular South Philadelphia sports bar, Chickie's and Pete's.

The city is trying to plan an event to honor the team, because fans "want to have some opportunity to express themselves in a big way and savor the moment," Nutter said.

For now, fans such as 31-year-old Dan Szerszen had to settle for calling out players' names and cheering as they drove out of the stadium.

Szerszen came out to see the team after working until 2 a.m. at FedEx. He hopes this is the year that will erase the memories of the 1993 World Series, when the Phillies lost to the Toronto Blue Jays.

Phillies reliever Mitch Williams gave up the series-winning homer to Joe Carter.

"There are still a lot of people that won't forgive him," Szerszen said of Williams.

But Szerszen expects great things from these Phillies. And the city needs a parade.

"Twenty-five years," Szerszen said. "It's our time."

Then Bartholdi noted an interesting parallel to the Phillies' World Series win in 1980.

"Reverse '80 — '08," he said.

Szerszen lit up. "Oh, yeah!" he said. "That's something!"