Phillies' John Middleton paid for a winner — and he's getting one

It's the third time in 13 months that the Phillies' clubhouse staff had to set things up.

Attaching plastic covers to the lockers. Wheeling in barrels of containers of Bud Light and champagne with Phillies logos on them. Hanging "playoff" paraphernalia from the walls and having goggles on the ready for the joyous sting of carbonated alcohol. Cigars too — don't forget the cigars.

Before last September, the Phillies hadn't even appeared in the postseason for a decade. Now it's back-to-back, with celebrations from clinching then winning the Wild Card and taking the NLDS and NLCS last season mixed in.

One may have expected a subdued atmosphere in the clubhouse after the Phillies beat the Pirates to punch their ticket for the 2023 tournament. A "been there done that" feeling. But that certainly was not the case.

It felt like the first time again, which is exactly how Phillies owner John Middleton — who talked to PhillyVoice wearing a soaking wet red postseason T-shirt and no shoes — wants it.

"Not winning it last year helps because you are hungrier," he said, "But part of the character is people who always want to win. When I was looking at Bryce [Harper] and interviewing him — and frankly he was interviewing me — both of us wanted to make sure I was offering a guy — and he was accepting an offer from — someone committed to winning. That goes for Bryce and it goes for me. We're not in it for one, and we're not frankly in it for two and if we were ever fortunate to win two or three in a row, we'd want the next just as much. That's not to say it's going to happen, I am just saying that desire, that drive is embedded in Bryce. It's embedded in guys like [Kyle] Schwarber and [Trea] Turner and [Nick] Castellanos and you see it in the young guys too."

Last year's World Series sprint felt like lightning in a bottle. The return trip to the postseason is the first step in proving that maybe that isn't true. Maybe this can be one of those teams that gets multiple opportunities for glory. 

"The character is what helps elevate everybody," Middleton continued, proudly complimenting the veterans he's committed hundreds of millions of dollars to. "If you go back to 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, all the players talked about is 'I gotta step up, if my guy in front of me doesn't deliver the hit, I have to step it up.' They work for each other not for themselves."

The Phillies enter the postseason with the most expensive roster in the entire field of 12. That is by design. 

Some pretty quick math shows that the Phillies have, on this roster, eight of the 40 highest-paid players in the National League. Those eight guys are making $177.1 million combined this season, which is more than 16 entire MLB team payrolls. 

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"John [Middleton] being able to bring these guys in, bringing in winning players with winning mentalities, each guy does their job well," Bryce Harper said while taking a pause from the celebration. "It's not about 'I' or 'this' or 'that,' it's about everybody in this clubhouse, we're all a family, we're all pulling on the same rope. We all understand what the job at hand is, and that's winning the World Series. We put everything else away, nothing else matters besides that."

Harper has overcome as much as anybody this season, returning in record time from Tommy John surgery and learning a totally new position. He also found his dormant power stroke, hitting 17 of his 20 home runs after July.

"You have got to have players who are healthy and playing well at precisely the right moment in time and if you have that, anything can happen," Middleton continued. "That's why I was really happy to see us win tonight because I want to see us go in the front door."

The playoffs begin Tuesday so the Phils have about a week to get their ducks in a row and prepare for what should be a raucous Citizens Bank Park. 

Last season's defeat in the World Series has only fueled the fire, and the Phillies have experience on their side now, along with some new blood ready to make a mark in this storied baseball city.

"It's just different," Harper said, asked by PhillyVoice to compare this celebration to last year's. "We have such a different group, I know there's the same guys and we're all looking forward to getting in there and understanding that we have to win these games. We're going to play some really good teams. Having a different group of guys but also the same guys who contributed last year in the postseason will help us so much more."

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