October 24, 2022

Who won the week in Philly sports: Bryce Harper reaches immortality

By Shamus Clancy
PhillyVoice Staff

I've been doing this "who won the week in Philly sports" feature since I started at PhillyVoice. Never has there been an easier choice for this. Bryce Harper, on the biggest stage of his career, showcased that he's worth every penny of that $330 million the Phillies are paying him with postseason heroics for the ages. Harper owns Philadelphia right now. A Phillie doing that while the Eagles are undefeated may be even more impressive than him hitting .400 in the NLCS.

"Where were you for Bryce's homer?" will be a question Phillies fans ask each other for the rest of their lives. Something tells me revisionist history will say that there were closer to 450,000 people down there at Citizens Bank Park, not 45,000. A go-ahead, two-run home run in the eighth inning to propel the Phillies into the World Series? You could live a lifetime and never see a bigger blast for this franchise.

A home run of that magnitude is something that will live on far longer than Harper's time in red pinstripes. It is now a capital "M" MOMENT for the city, akin to Wilbert Montgomery's dash against the Cowboys, Allen Iverson's step over, Matt Stairs ripping one into the night and Patrick Robinson scurrying into the end zone.

Touch 'em all, Bryce. You've locked yourself into legendary status in Philadelphia.

Not that I need to convince you, but let's lay out what's made Harper's postseason so special...

THE SWING OF HIS LIFE 🎙️

A great play needs a great call. Those Stairs and Robinson moments live even larger in my mind because Joe Bucks did a hell of a job on both. FOX Sports' Joe Davis was up to the task on this one:

BRYCE HARPER IS A PHILADELPHIA PHILLIE pic.twitter.com/UjLTijwIqe
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) October 23, 2022

"HARPER... THE SWING OF HIS LIFE!"

I'll hear that a million more times in the years to come and I can't imagine it'll ever stop giving me chills.

MVP 🏆

Harper was named MVP of the 2022 NLCS. His playoff numbers are bonkers:

Stats	NLWC	NLDS	NLCS
G	2	4	5
PA	8	18	20
BA	.286	.500	.400
OPS	1.089	1.592	1.250
HR	1	2	2
RBI	1	5	5

These are "MVP Baseball 2005" stat lines.

Harper has a 1.351 OPS this postseason in 46 plate appearances. That's the fourth-highest OPS in history for a single postseason (minimum 46 PAs).

Here's the top 10 (via Stathead):

Rank	Player	Team	Year	OPS
1	Barry Bonds	Giants	2002	1.559
2	Carlos Beltran	Astros	2004	1.557
3	Willie Stargell	Pirates	1979	1.362
4	Bryce Harper	Phillies	2022	1.351
5	Paul Molitor	Blue Jays	1993	1.318
6	Alex Rodriguez	Yankees	2009	1.308
7	Albert Pujols	Cardinals	2004	1.286
8	David Ortiz	Red Sox	2004	1.278
9	Rand Arozarena	Rays	2020	1.273
10	Miguel Cabrera	Tigers	2011	1.261

That list includes three Hall of Famers, two of the best players to ever live, two future first-ballot Hall of Famers and more. Not bad company!

The King of Pandering 👑

I got a couple angry emails before when I talked about how much Harper panders to Philly fans. Let's not get it twisted: It's amazing. It's so easy to connect with Philadelphians. There's a winning playbook to endear yourself to the city. Harper is turning in one of the greatest postseasons in the history of the sport and can't shut up about how much he loves playing in Philadelphia:

"This city, this team, organization. This is all for them, this is unbelievable."

An emotional Bryce Harper shares his love for the city of Philadelphia after he helped send the @Phillies to the World Series for the first time since 2009.@LGRed | #RedOctober | #Postseason pic.twitter.com/9b05RfCrhP
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) October 23, 2022

The dude just smashed his way into the Fall Classic and is getting choked up talking about Philly. Hey, I was in the stands on Sunday afternoon. I shed some tears. What a time for the Phillies, but, more importantly, what a time for this city. People pouring into the street, arm-in-arm, screaming cheering, cursing, partying. It's incredible.

"Let's give them something to remember tonight."

That gives me the same vibes as Tim Riggins saying, "Let's touch God this time, boys."

There are an infinite amount of possibilities in this world and we ended up in the one timeline where Bryce freaking Harper is hitting playoff home runs for the Phillies.