Phillies down Astros for 1st playoff berth since 2011
But this team persevered through the tough start and an injury that took Harper out for two months to do just that, beating the Houston Astros 3-0 Monday night to clinch its first playoff berth in 11 years.
“It hasn’t been an easy season,” Schwarber said. “We went through a manager change, went through the MVP being down... and we went through people saying that our season’s over, that don’t even count the Phillies and they can’t catch the baseball... and for us to get all of our guys back and healthy and for them to all be there and contribute that’s what it’s about.”
“When I signed here in '19, I said it was going to take us a couple of years, three or four or five years to get to where we needed to be,” said Harper, a two-time MVP. “And we’re not where we need to be right now, but this is step one to hopefully greater success and a greater opportunity to get to where we need to be.”
“At the start of the year we just weren’t playing well and we weren’t playing to our capability,” he said. “But I always felt like we were going to get there and we did. So. I just happened to come in at the right time.”
The Phillies entered the opener of the final regular season series of the year needing a win or a loss by the Brewers to get a National League wild card spot. The Brewers rallied to beat the Diamondbacks 6-5 in 10 innings a few minutes before Philadelphia wrapped up the victory.
He said before the game that he planned to get some of his starters out early to rest since Houston has already clinched the best record in the American League.
The Phillies have three players who will appear in the postseason for the first time after playing more than 600 career games. Jean Segura leads the group with 1,327, J.T. Realmuto has 1,004 and Rhys Hoskins is at 666.
