Bryce Harper sends clear playoff message to Phillies after avoiding complete meltdown
Phillies end their swoon and avoid epic collapse as they clinch their spot in the playoff with victory over Rays led by Bryce Harper
As teams like the Cubs, Padres, Red Sox, Guardians and White Sox clinched their spots in the Major League Baseball playoffs on seemingly an every-day basis, the Philadelphia Phillies were seemingly stuck in quicksand. For four consecutive days, the Phillies’ magic number did not move. It was stuck on two as they kept on losing while teams like the Padres and Diamondbacks kept winning.
That finally changed Saturday, when a loss by the Diamondbacks cut the magic number to one, but that was cold comfort since Arizona owned the tiebreaker between the two teams. If the Phillies lost the season finale to the explosive Tampa Bay Rays and the Diamondbacks had beaten the Padres, the Phillies would have been on the outside of the playoffs looking in.
This year’s Phillies would have joined infamous chokers like the 2025 Mets, the 2011 Red Sox, the 1978 Red Sox and the 1964 Phillies. Those ancient Phillies had perhaps the worst end-of-season performance of all-time.
However, the Phillies woke up from their slumber and avoided adding their name to an appearance on the all-time gags by beating the Rays 7-3 in the season finale. Bryce Harper and Edmundo Sosa homered in the victory as the Phillies ended their collapse. They will play the NL East champion Atlanta Brave in a best of 3 Wild Card series. All the games will be played in Atlanta, and the series gets underway Tuesday.
Harper looked relieved in the locker room after the victory, but he said the Phillies have quite a bit of work to do. “We have been here before,” Harper said in a matter-of-fact manner to John Clark of NBC Sports. “This time, we have to finish the job. We have never finished the job before.”
As teams like the Cubs, Padres, Red Sox, Guardians and White Sox clinched their spots in the Major League Baseball playoffs on seemingly an every-day basis, the Philadelphia Phillies were seemingly stuck in quicksand. For four consecutive days, the Phillies’ magic number did not move.