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Philadelphia Baseball Review - Phillies News, Rumors and Analysis
Bryce Harper Phillies NL East
They didn’t clinch it with a walk-off in South Philly. They didn’t do it in a routine blowout. No, the Phillies became National League East champions for the second straight year the only way they know how—by sending hearts racing across three time zones, by blowing three different leads, by nearly coughing it up in the ninth, and then by storming into the visitors’ clubhouse at Dodger Stadium to turn it into a beer-soaked mosh pit.

On a Monday night in Los Angeles, in Game 151 of this relentless season, the Phillies outlasted the Dodgers in a 6–5, 10-inning roller coaster that felt like the perfect summation of who they are. Nothing is ever neat. Nothing is ever simple. But somehow, when the music stops, they’re the ones still standing on the dance floor with the champagne corks flying.

They had just one hit through six innings, Kyle Schwarber’s 53rd homer of the season, and still found themselves trailing 3–1. Then came a jolt of life in the seventh when Bryson Stott punched a run-scoring single and Weston Wilson launched a two-run rocket to dead center that turned a deficit into a lead. But leads were fragile things in Chavez Ravine. Mookie Betts had already driven in two runs on sacrifice flies, and in the bottom of the inning he launched a game-tying homer that sucked the air out of Philadelphia’s rally before the echo of Wilson’s swing had even faded.

And yet Bryce Harper wasn’t finished. Leading off the eighth against Alex Vesia, he saw a fastball climb just a little too high in the zone and demolished it into the right-center seats. He raised his fist in the air as he rounded first, the kind of celebration that tells you he knew exactly how much it mattered. That was his 27th of the year. That was the one that felt like it would seal the night.

But of course, it didn’t. Not this team. Not this night. Jhoan Duran had faced 52 batters as a Phillie without giving up a home run. The 53rd, Andy Pages, worked the count to 0–2 and then saw a curveball hang for a fraction of a second too long. One swing later, the ball was gone, the game was tied, and the Phillies were headed into another round of chaos.

So it came down to the tenth, where Harrison Bader started at second, Harper was walked intentionally, and the two of them pulled off a double steal like a pair of Little Leaguers daring the other team to stop them. That set up J.T. Realmuto, steady as always, to loft a sacrifice fly to right that put the Phillies back on top.

And then, because this script required one last stomach punch, the Dodgers loaded the bases in the bottom of the inning. Betts was on second. Freddie Freeman stood at first after an intentional walk. Another walk brought Max Muncy to the plate with everything hanging in the balance. One ground ball later, David Robertson had wriggled out of another mess, and the Phillies were champions again.

By the time they posed for a team photo near the mound, the clubhouse was already vibrating with music, smoke, and foam. Harper, bare-chested, dumped champagne over his head. Schwarber, naturally, found a hose to turn his beer into a waterfall. Cigar smoke curled toward the ceiling. It was the earliest division clinch in franchise history, earlier even than the 102-win club of 2011.

“The last four years has been the most fun I’ve had in baseball," Thomson told reporters. "It’s because of the guys. They have a lot of fun."
It meant a third straight 90-win season, only the third time in Phillies history they’ve done that. It meant Rob Thomson joined Charlie Manuel and Danny Ozark as the only managers in red pinstripes to deliver consecutive division crowns. It meant that a club written off as snakebit in May, with injuries piling up, is now the first team in baseball this year to secure its division.

“We’re playing really good baseball right now,” Harper said later, cigar in one hand, goggles pushed up on his head. “We’ve got things on our mind that we want to win.”

The Phillies have been here before, sure. But not like this. Not with a roster that has found ways to win every kind of game imaginable, from blowouts to nail-biters to nights like this one where the champagne only tastes sweeter because of all the times it almost slipped away.

And so, once again, the Phillies are NL East champions. Once again, the music plays on. And once again, a season that started back in March now turns toward October, where they hope to pop a few more champagne bottles over the next month. 

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Patrick Gordon, Executive Editor

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Philadelphia Baseball Review - Phillies News, Rumors and Analysis