LOS ANGELES – Delayed by mechanical issues with their plane, the Phillies landed in Los Angeles around 2 a.m. Monday morning. They clinched a playoff spot while en route, but they wanted to save the revelry for whenever they clinched the division.
They didn’t have to wait long.
Twenty hours later, Phillies players were downing champagne and absorbing a concoction of Miller Lite and Budweiser through a beer funnel as cigar smoke and the sounds of Kendrick Lamar filled the visiting clubhouse at Dodger Stadium.
They exhibited no adverse effects from the late arrival while answering every punch from the reigning champions in a back-and-forth extra-inning victory that made them the National League East champions for the second straight year, a 90-win team for the third straight year and the first team to clinch their division this season.
“You’ve got to enjoy this,” said Kyle Schwarber, who started the scoring in Monday’s 6-5 win with his National League-leading 53rd home run of the year. “This doesn’t happen all the time.”
Phillies fans know.
In 2022, the Phillies finished third in the NL East before making a dazzling run to the World Series. A year later, as the runner-up in the division, they made it to the NLCS before falling short of their goal. Last year, they captured the division for the first time in 12 years, only to win just one game in the NLDS.
This year, in what could be the last hurrah with the nucleus of standouts who’ve helped them reach the postseason four straight seasons, the urgency seemed to kick up a notch. Sept. 15 is the earliest in a season they’ve claimed a division title in franchise history — two days sooner than the 2011 club.
“We’re a really good team,” said Bryce Harper, who launched a go-ahead home run in the eighth inning of the division-clinching win. “I think we’re playing really good baseball right now, and we’ve just got to keep going and keep understanding we’ve got a bigger picture.”
With Schwarber and the battery of Monday’s victory — starter Ranger Suarez and catcher J.T. Realmuto — among the players who will soon be among the most coveted free-agents on the market, there is added pressure to make that picture come to fruition in 2025.
But it also makes each of these moments worth celebrating, which they did to the fullest Monday night.
“Before ’22, J.T. played eight years or nine years and never made it [to the playoffs],” mentioned Bryson Stott. “They only inform me, ‘Don’t take it with no consideration since you don’t know what’s on the market.’ With this group, we’ve been collectively form of a very long time now. It will get higher every time.”
Whereas their core has loads of postseason expertise, a brand new forged of contributors supplies hope for a distinct October end result.
The Phillies made two of MLB’s most consequential midseason acquisitions, filling their want at nearer with Jhoan Duran and bolstering their outfield with Harrison Bader. They’re 29-14 for the reason that deadline. Each gamers seem rejuvenated after leaving Minnesota. Duran has a 1.62 ERA and is 14-for-16 in save alternatives in Philadelphia, whereas Bader is slashing .338/.399/.519 together with his new membership; his .918 OPS is the second-highest mark on the workforce behind Schwarber.
“I believe baseball’s a common language,” Bader mentioned. “A successful mentality, the eagerness for it, the wish to win and transfer on and go to the World Sequence, win a World Sequence, it’s all a common language. No matter the place you come from, your tradition, what workforce you get traded from, the second you step between these white traces, for those who’re with a bunch that additionally speaks that very same language, a variety of good can occur.”
Harrison Bader was a key commerce deadline acquistion for the Philies. (Photograph by Ronald Martinez/Getty Pictures)
Bader’s discovering that concord in Philadelphia. As not too long ago as Aug. 3, the Phillies had been only a half-game up on the Mets. Since then, sparked by their deadline additions, they’ve the most effective document in baseball.
They’ve weathered the lack of ace Zack Wheeler, going 20-9 since his final begin. On Sept. 7, they misplaced Trea Turner and Alec Bohm to damage — and have gone 7-1 since. Monday’s victory towards the Dodgers was a showcase of each their veteran famous person expertise and the reinforcements who’ve helped them soar.
Schwarber and Harper countered the Dodgers’ left-handed relievers with lasers into the right-field pavilion, whereas a ground-rule double from rookie Otto Kemp set the scene for the Phillies’ late-inning fusillade, which included a game-changing two-run blast from Weston Wilson, who has seen extra taking part in time at second base with Stott bumping over to shortstop of late.
After Duran allowed his first dwelling run since July 22 to tie the sport within the ninth, reliever David Robertson — who was acquired as a free agent on July 21 and made his first look with the Phillies a month in the past — closed out the win.
“I do know we’re celebrating tonight, nevertheless it’s virtually like a celebration each night time we’ve a win,” Robertson mentioned. “This can be a nice group of fellows. The group [Dave] Dombrowski’s put collectively is unbelievable — the commerce deadline pickups, the core group that’s been right here for awhile. I hope it stays collectively. This can be a enjoyable place to play, and that is the place I wish to be.”
Regardless of taking part in shorthanded, the Phillies offense has the best OPS in MLB in September. Quickly, that group ought to be nearer to complete. Bohm might be again as quickly as this weekend, whereas the Phillies are hopeful Turner will return from his hamstring pressure earlier than the top of the common season.
Till then, they proceed discovering methods to win. They’re 13-3 within the 16 video games began by Suárez, Christopher Sanchez and Jesus Luzardo — their new high pitching trio — since Wheeler went down. Monday’s victory was particularly essential, because it separated them farther from the workforce that’s chasing them for a first-round bye.
The Phillies at the moment are six wins forward of the Dodgers for the No. 2 seed within the Nationwide League. They’re 3-1 towards the reigning champs this season and 43-32 towards golf equipment with a .500 document or higher as they search their first World Sequence title since 2008.
“I actually discovered a clubhouse that speaks the identical language I do,” Bader mentioned.
Rowan Kavner is an MLB author for FOX Sports activities. He beforehand lined the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved again to the West Coast in 2014. Comply with him on X at @RowanKavner.
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