The Philadelphia Phillies are running away with the NL East, and Bryce Harper is but a supporting actor. Kyle Schwarber is the 50-homer sensation. The starting pitchers are leading men. And two deadline additions from the Minnesota Twins, center fielder Harrison Bader and closer Jhoan Duran, are taking their own star turns.
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Some with the Phillies wonder how all this sits with Harper, alpha of alphas, two-time MVP, hero of the 2022 NLCS. Harper is the No. 3 hitter batting behind Schwarber, helping his teammate get better pitches to hit. And while his OPS is .852, not terribly below his .906 career mark, even his manager, Rob Thomson, acknowledges it doesn’t seem like the figure is that high.
So, does Harper still feel like it’s his team? Does it matter to him if it isn’t?
Harper, who turns 33 next month, laughed at the questions.
“I think it’s everybody’s team in here,” he said Thursday night after the Phillies completed their four-game sweep of the New York Mets with a come-from-behind 6-4 victory.
“Kyle is obviously having an incredible year, in a contract year as well. He’s going to have that hype around him. Other teams and organizations are seeing what he’s doing, the media is seeing what he’s doing. It’s great for our team. It’s great for baseball as well.
“I’ve never been that type of guy where I wanted it to be my team or someone else’s team. Our main goal is winning. That’s everybody’s mindset.”
Based on the way the Phillies crushed the Mets’ souls, it’s tempting to proclaim them World Series favorites. They outscored the Mets, 27-10, without staff ace Zack Wheeler, who is out for the season, and without shortstop Trea Turner and third baseman Alec Bohm, who are expected to return. Then again, those tempted to get carried away with one good game or even four are proceeding at their own risk. So many contenders this season have experienced emotional whiplash, good vibes quickly turning into foul moods, and then back again.
Two weeks ago, the Phillies were swept by the Mets at Citi Field, reducing their division lead to four games and raising questions about whether they were heading for another dispiriting conclusion. Since then, they’re 11-3. They’ve increased their lead over the Mets to 11 games. And they’ve whetted Harper’s appetite for his favorite time of year: October.
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It has not been Harper’s best regular season. He spent more than three weeks on the injured list with right wrist inflammation. His 25 homers are half as many as Schwarber’s. And before going 2-for-4 Thursday night with a double and two RBIs, he was batting only .216 with a .761 OPS in September.
Yet, Harper said of his season, “I’m happy about it. Obviously, missing (time) with my wrist and coming back from that, not knowing what I was going to feel like, it’s not a year I want to have every year. But as of right now, I’ll take it.
“I’m just trying to have a good last three weeks and take that into the postseason. You know I love playing in the postseason, the bright lights, the bigger moments, things like that. I’m super excited for that opportunity.”
The Phillies’ confidence right now, even without Wheeler, is striking. Nick Castellanos, reduced to a part-time right fielder, said, “We have all the pieces and then some to win a World Series.” The team’s overall mood is decidedly different than it was last season at this time, when the Phillies were heading to a 30-28 regular-season finish — and a four-game wipeout by the Mets in the Division Series.
Now it’s the Mets, losers of six straight, who look like a beaten club. Their lead for the final NL wild-card spot over the Cincinnati Reds and San Francisco is down to 1 1/2 games. They would lose a tiebreaker to the Reds but not the Giants. And if they fail to qualify for a 12-team postseason with their $340 million payroll, they will go down as one of the biggest flops in major-league history.
On June 12, the Mets were 45-24, the best record in the majors. Since then, they’re 31-47, the fourth worst. Another turnaround remains possible, particularly given the Mets’ level of talent. But even though flawed starting pitching is the biggest reason for their collapse, whatever mojo they had last season, when they reached the NLCS, seems gone.
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Big stars create a different and occasionally uncomfortable dynamic. The Mets’ big stars, Juan Soto, Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso, are viewed by those with the club as good people. They work hard and surely want to win as much as Harper, Schwarber and Turner. But something appears off with this team. And while it might be easy to blame the $765 million addition of Soto, it would be too simple a narrative. Soto sure seemed to fit in well with the New York Yankees last season. He’s also in the middle of a 39-homer, 31-stolen base season, and is tied with Schwarber for fourth in the majors in OPS.
Chemistry can be elusive, difficult to capture, difficult to define. But whatever that quality is, the Phillies sure seem to have it. Part of it stems from their last-hurrah mentality, knowing Schwarber, catcher J.T. Realmuto and left-hander Ranger Suarez are potential free agents. Part of it stems from their deadline additions, who created a special energy. And part of it stems from Schwarber, one of the game’s most respected leaders and humble characters.
Asked to describe the meaning of his 50th homer, Schwarber said, “I guess I’m a very oblivious baseball player.” He didn’t know until after his four-homer night on Aug. 28 that no player has hit five in a game. He also didn’t know that only 33 other players had hit 50 in a season.
Non-tendered by the Chicago Cubs after the 2020 season, Schwarber understands the lows a player can experience. Harper, who was on the cover of Sports Illustrated at 16, has been a center of attention his entire career. As accustomed as he is to the spotlight, it would be easy for him to be jealous of Schwarber. But Harper insisted he is comfortable playing a secondary role. At least until the playoffs begin.
“At the end of the day, I’m still me, whatever that looks like,” Harper said. “Each night I go out there and just try to be Bryce. I understand any given night can be special for me. If I can play good baseball and do my job, that’s all that matters.
“When you start making it about you or I or anything like that, things start falling apart. You don’t want that to happen. It’s a big team in here. We have a lot of fun together. We pull on that same rope together. It’s been a blast.”
And for Harper and the Phillies, even greater fun might lie ahead.
(Top photo of Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber: Justin Casterline / Getty Images)
